The Southeastern Chinese Shenzhen Airlines officially launched flights to Cambodia on Thursday, becoming the seventh Chinese airline to fly from China to Phnom Penh International Airport, according to Cambodian airports officials.
Shenzhen Airlines will operate three flights per week between Shenzhen and Phnom Penh.
The first aircraft on the route touched down at Phnom Penh airport about 2pm on Thursday and had 161 passengers on board, the Khmer Times reported.
According to the Cambodia airports, in 2017 traffic growth from China has been a prevailing trend at Cambodia’s three international airports as the one million Chinese passenger mark has been crossed.
There are 11 airline companies servicing China from Phnom Penh. Of these, seven Chinese airlines and four Cambodian carriers also operate routes to and from China.
Eric Delobel, the CEO of Cambodia Airports, said it has been a market that has gained prominence with developing inbound and outbound traffic. He said most of China’s major cities had established air links with Cambodian airports and that has been benefitting to passengers as they have a full array of travel options with more destinations, airlines and frequencies.