Cambodia will soon have daily flights from Dubai and Yangon as Emirates creates a new air link between the capital cities of two developing Indochinese markets.
Phnom Penh will be the latest destination Emirates will serve from July 1 this year, with a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a two-class configuration, according to a press release from Emirates.
“The new Dubai-Yangon-Phnom Penh route will also enable passengers from Yangon to travel to Phnom Penh and vice versa. Emirates will be the only airline with a direct service between these two cities,” read the release.
“In terms of cargo, garments and clothing are expected to be popular exports from Phnom Penh on this route.”
Outbound, flight EK388 will depart Dubai at 9:15am and will arrive in Yangon at 5:25pm and it will then depart Yangon at 6:55pm before arriving in Phnom Penh at 9:25pm.
The departure time of flight EK388 from Dubai is aimed at seamlessly connecting with a number of European services such as Paris, London and Frankfurt. On the return segment, flight EK389 will depart Phnom Penh at 11:10pm and will arrive in Dubai at 5:40am the next day, after a short stop in Yangon. All times are local.
“The launch of daily services from Dubai to Phnom Penh will coincide with the introduction of a direct, non-stop route between Dubai and Hanoi,” the statement said.
“From July 1, Emirates passengers traveling to Hanoi will no longer stop in Yangon before reaching the Vietnamese capital.”
All services between Dubai and Phnom Penh will offer two classes of travel – business and economy – with a generous free baggage allowance of up to 35 kilograms in Economy Class and 40kg in Business Class.
Ho Vandy, the secretary-general of the Cambodia National Tourism Alliance, is on the record as saying that the government created open sky policies to attract investors as well as tourists and to make the business environment in Cambodia more favourable for investment and tourism.
“Flights from Dubai and Yangon are a good sign for investment and tourism,” he said. “When we have direct flights from those countries, it saves time and money for passengers.
“To attract more tourists from Dubai, we have to strengthen services, food quality and transportation to meet their demands,” added Vandy.
A spokesman for the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation could not be contacted for comment.
Passenger traffic at the Kingdom’s three international airports soared by 8.5 percent last year compared with 2015, official data from Cambodia Airports, the company authorized to manage the airports, showed last month.
According to the data, Phnom Penh International Airport maintained its double-digit growth at 10 percent, receiving some 3.39 million passengers last year.
Sihanoukville International Airport experienced a massive rise in passenger traffic with a 66 percent increase over 2015, breaking the 150,000 passenger mark for the first time.
Growth at Siem Reap International Airport, although still modest, was 5.5 percent with 3.47 million passengers – the slowest rate of growth seen in the past four years.
