More growth at Phnom Penh’s international airport with extra room

                   A parking bay at Phnom Penh’s International Airport. Cambodia Airport

The extra lots are needed to fully accommodate aircraft movements, according to Cambodia Airports, the company managing all three international airports in the Kingdom.

Khek Norinda, communications and public relations director at Cambodia Airports, told the Khmer Times that Cambodia Airports specifically dedicated the last two years (2018-2019) to the improvement of the runway and apron capacity. In 2018, Cambodia Airports fully renovated the runway and, in 2019, it completed the investment programme aiming at refurbishing and extending the apron and parking stands.

He said that the reinforcement and extension of the seven aircraft parking stands is to the east of the airport.

“Phnom Penh International airport has now a total of 42 parking stands. At Apron B, we rehabilitated 12 parking stands for code C aircraft (Airbus 320 and Boeing 737) and the new facilities are used for long-lasting aircraft parking, releasing more space on Apron A where aircraft operate, which now has 30 stands with its recent refurbishment,” Khek added.

He said that the new capacity will contribute to coping with growing traffic and to specifically welcoming aircraft of international heads of governments attending the next Asia-Europe Meeting in Phnom Penh. “One of the coming investments will be the expansion of the check-in area with 11 new counters and the baggage handling system,” Norinda added.

Currently, Cambodia has five domestic airlines and 44 international airlines. All seven new parking stands are already commissioned.

In Nov 8, 2019, 12 new aircraft parking stands were launched at Phnom Penh International Airport to cope with rising aircraft traffic.

Collectively known as Apron B, the new parking bays can accommodate Code C aircraft (A320 family and B737), but they are not used for commercial operations but mainly for long-term aircraft parking such as that from Bassaka Air, which do not operate regularly.

The new Apron B will free commercial parking stands on Apron A (the airport’s main apron) for commercial operations.

“We will be able to use the full capacity of Apron A with 23 Code C stands. Now, we have Apron A’s capacity with seven additional code C stands. We, therefore, will reach a total capacity of 30 Code C stands,” said Khek Norinda, communications and public relations director at Cambodia Airports.

Passenger traffic at Cambodian airports grew by 12 percent in the first eleven months of last year because of new air routes and new airlines being put into operation.

Figures from Cambodia Airports, which manages the country’s three international airports, show that from January to November, passengers amounted to 10.6 million people.

Phnom Penh International Airport and Sihanoukville International Airport saw the biggest traffic growth, while Siem Reap International Airport experienced a decline in traffic.

Phnom Penh International Airport handled 5.5 million passengers, a 12 percent increase, and Sihanoukville International Airport hit a record high with a 177 percent increase to 1.5 million passengers.

Siem Reap International Airport, on the other hand, saw passenger traffic fall 11 percent, to 3.5 million. According to the Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia received 5.2 million foreign tourists from January to October this year, up 9.7 percent. Of that number, 3.7 million passed through the airports, up 12 percent during the period, the report read. Source from Khmertimes.