CAMBODIA’S two international airports are showing strong signs of recovery following the economic downturn with arrivals to May up almost 14 per cent on last year. The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) reported that together the airports handled just over 1.8 million passengers in the first half of the year with 912,000 travellers flying into Phnom Penh and 896,000 arriving at Siem Reap, which has experienced growth of 22 per cent so far in 2011. Around 1.7 million flyers arrived at Phnom Penh in 2010 while the figure was 1.5 million at Siem Reap. Cambodia Airports secretary general recently told the Airport Leaders‘ Forum in Singapore things are returning to normal at Siem Reap after a difficult 2008/09 and the airport is expected to top its 2007 peak figure of 1.7 million passengers by the end of the year. He said the 1.7 million arrivals at Phnom Penh last year was a record, but this is also likely to be bettered in 2011 partly due to a new three-times-weekly service from Paris via Bangkok which was launched by Air France in March. The route is a return to the former French colony for the French flag carrier following a 37-year absence. The CAPA reports that Aeroflot is also considering resuming flights to Phnom Penh from Moscow, a route the carrier has not served since the early 1990s.
