CAMBODIA. The new Siem Reap Angkor International Airport opened for operations on Monday (16 October) serving 17 commercial flight arrivals on its first day. A Grand Opening will be held on 16 November (look out for our on location report).
The airport, which replaces the old Siem Reap International Airport, features an extensive commercial offer. The duty free stores are run by China Duty Free Group-controlled CDF Cambodia trading as Duty Zero by cdf, which won the concession after an open tender. Newrest was awarded the food & beverage operation, while Seal & Go is operating the baggage wrapping concession, as well as retailing of travel accessories and suitcases.
Cambodian company Monument Books, the country’s largest bookstore chain, runs mobile retail kiosks under a franchise agreement with the Relay brand owned by Lagardère Travel Retail.
The airport, owned by Angkor International Airport Investment (Cambodia) Co, is operated by China-funded Yunnan Investment Holdings Limited. This is the first overseas international airport to delivered under the Build-Operate-Transfer model by a Chinese enterprise.
It can initially serve 7 million passengers a year, rising to 12 million from 2040. The airport will serve as the gateway to the temples of Angkor, Cambodia’s most famous tourist attraction.
Tourism of Cambodia reported that a host of dignitaries welcomed the first commercial flight landing. They included Vongsey Visoth, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister and Minister in charge of the Office of the Council of Ministers; Mao Havannall, Minister in charge of the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation; Sok Soken, Minister of Tourism and representative of the Angkor International Airport Investment (Cambodia) Co.
“The official operation of Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport today is opening a new page for Cambodia to promote post-COVID-19 tourism recovery in promoting tourism in the province of Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat temple,” Visoth said.
