Vietnam is entering the Thai turf: Cambodia Angkor expands to Bangkok

September 14, 2012
By Rapeepat Mantanarat
TTRweekly

HO CHI MINH CITY, 14 September 2012: Cambodia Angkor Air, the national carrier of Cambodia, will start flights to Bangkok this November from Siem Reap.

The airline’s executive, marketing department told TTR Weekly at the 8th International Travel Expo in Ho Chi Minh City that the Siem Reap to Bangkok service will operate four times weekly using a ATR72 aircraft. If passenger response is good the airline will increase flights to daily.

A service between Phnom Penh and Bangkok is also under consideration. The only airline serving the Bangkok-Siem route is Bangkok Airways.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Welcome to Makorwat

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

The mysteries of a national carrier

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The mysteries of a national carrier

Cambodia Angkor Air is nothing more than a subsidiary of Vietnam Airlines. It does not serve Cambodia's national interest!

Ever heard about CAA? Behind the acronym hides Cambodia Angkor Air, officially the national carrier of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Discretion is really the best word to describe so far the airline’s strategy.

Luc Citrinot - 18 July 2012

Travel Daily News

PHNOM PENH- There is very little to say about Cambodia Angkor Air (CAA) beside the fact that most clients probably will even not remember the name of the carrier. Since July 2009, CAA is officially the national carrier of the Kingdom of Cambodia, a carrier born thanks to an agreement setting a joint venture between the Cambodian State (51%) and Vietnam Airlines (49 %). The airline is in reality a proxy of the Vietnamese national carrier Vietnam Airlines. The four aircraft in the fleet –ATR 72 and Airbus A321- come from Vietnam and all the management is Vietnamese. Mr. Trinh Ngoc Thanh, CAA current Chairman and CEO is at the same time Executive Vice President of Vietnam Airlines.

Looking at CAA network, the airline serves only three cities out of Siem Reap: Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and Ho Chi Minh City. Despite promising at the beginning to serve more international destinations with one or two years- they were rumours about Bangkok, Singapore and China soon to be added. By mid-2012, the network looks basically the same than in 2010, Sihanoukville excepted. The route serving Cambodia’s largest seaside resort was in fact requested by the government to set up a proper air connection to what is considered as Cambodia’s third largest destination.

Vietnam Airlines: big ambitions [-VN Airlines own half of Cambodia Angkor Air]

January 17, 2011
By Ben Bland
Financial Times (UK)

State-owned Vietnam Airlines wants to turn Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City into “major gateways” for the wider Indochina region, challenging the dominance of Bangkok and Singapore.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Pham Ngoc Minh, the flag carrier’s chief executive, said he was looking to expand connections with Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, as well as adding new routes and more flights to Europe.

Minh said:

We have our strength in our domestic market but, at the same time, we hope that as we develop Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, they become major gateways for the sub region.

Vietnam Airlines already has a 45 per cent market share at Cambodia’s Siem Reap airport, which is the dropping-off point for the ancient temples around Angkor Wat.

Ex Vietnam Airlines employee arrested for bomb threats

12/7/2010
Thanh Nien News (Hanoi)

Vietnamese police on Monday arrested a former Vietnam Airlines employee who is suspected of having made bomb threats against flights in October, Vietnamnet reported.

Initial investigation showed that during Hanoi’s millennial anniversary, Nguyen Bang Viet, a former coordinator of the carrier’s flight attendants, texted a chief attendant, saying that a bomb had been planted on a flight from Hanoi to Cambodia’s Siem Reap.

This prompted Vietnam Airlines to cancel the flight, tighten security and launch a search for the bomb. Authorities never found an explosive device, according to the police.

Viet, 36, was also accused of emailing another airline official and threatening to plant a bomb on a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney. No bomb was found as well, the news source reported.

The police said that, while working for Vietnam Airlines, Viet was punished for several violations.

The case is currently under investigation.

Two commercial air routes between Vietnam and Cambodia to open

10/30/2009
VOV News (Hanoi)

The Cambodia State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) is coordinating with Vietnam’s flag carrier Vietnam Airlines to open two new air routes between the two countries, connecting Cambodia’s Sihanoukville City to Vietnam’s Phu Quoc Cambodia's occupied Koh Tral Island and Can Tho City.

Each route will have a scheduled flight everyday.

The selected areas are attractive to tourists from both countries. According to Ho Vandy, President of the Cambodian Association of Travel Agents, Phu Quoc Island and Can Tho City are both big tourism centres.

After the two new routes are put into operation, Phu Quoc and Can Tho are expected to supply a lot of tourists to Cambodia’s tourism industry.

Cambodia to stop Bangkok Airways' Cambodian domestic flights

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian government will not renew its agreement with Bangkok Airways, under which the Thai-owned airline flies Cambodian domestic routes, when it expires on Oct. 25, local media reported on Friday, citing a senior aviation official.

State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) Secretary of State Mao Havannal was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying that the decision was made to give a boost to the new national carrier Cambodia Angkor Air (CAA), which made its maiden flight on July 28.

"Now that we have our own domestic airline, Bangkok Airways will not be allowed to continue flights when the agreement finishes on Oct. 25," he said.

Bangkok Airways has been flying four flights daily between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap since taking over the route last November when its subsidiary, Siem Reap Airways, was grounded by the SSCA.

SSCA Cabinet Chief Long Chheng said Thursday that the body sent Bangkok Airways a letter last week informing it of the decision.

Bangkok Airways Acting Country Director Amornrat Kongsawat has not been available for comment.

Cambodia to end Bangkok Airways domestic flights

Friday, September 25, 2009
AFP

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia's civil aviation authority said Friday it will not renew an agreement for Thai-owned Bangkok Airways to operate domestic services in the kingdom when it expires next month.

Bangkok Airways has been flying daily between Phnom Penh and the tourist hub Siem Reap -- home of the Angkor Wat temples -- since last year after its subsidiary, Siem Reap Airways, was grounded for safety concerns.

Mao Havannal, secretary of state for the state civil aviation, said the government will not extend the agreement for Bangkok Airways to fly the routes when it expires in late October.

"We have already informed Bangkok Airways about the decision," Mao Havannal told AFP without elaborating.

But it appears that the decision was made in order to give a boost to the country's new national airline, Cambodia Angkor Air, which was launched in July to promote tourism in the country.

Tourism is one of the only sources of foreign exchange for impoverished Cambodia, which is recovering from nearly three decades of conflict that ended in 1998.

The kingdom aims to lure three million tourists annually by 2010.

A number of foreign airlines, including Japan Airlines and Qatar Airways, currently operate direct flights to Cambodia.

Bye, bye Bangkok Airways ... Hello Vietnam Airlines (Oops! Cambodia Angkor Air)

Bangkok Airways to lose Siem Reap-Phnom Penh route

Fri, 25 Sep 2009
By Michelle Chen
DPA

Phnom Penh - The Cambodian government said it would not renew the contract allowing Thai carrier Bangkok Airways to operate the domestic Phnom Penh-Siem Reap route when the deal expires next month, local media reported Friday. Officials said the decision would boost passenger numbers for Cambodia's new operator, Cambodia Angkor Air, a joint venture between the Cambodian government and state-owned Vietnam Airlines. It started operations in July.

Mao Havannal, the head of the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper that the decision had been taken to give the new airline a boost.

"Now that we have our own domestic airline, Bangkok Airways will not be allowed to continue their flights when the agreement finishes on October 25," he told the paper.

Bangkok Airways operates four flights a day between Cambodia's capital and the key tourist destination of Siem Reap, home to the famous Angkor Wat temple complex, which is visited by millions of people annually.

Bangkok Airways began flying the route last year after its subsidiary, Siem Reap Airways, was grounded amid reports of financial irregularities and safety concerns following an audit by the International Civil Aviation Organization.