Cambodia
Airlines, Royal Group’s airline start-up venture with partner Philippine
Airlines (PAL), has again been thrown into doubt with Cambodia’s aviation
authority yesterday saying neither party had yet applied for the necessary
certificate and questioning whether the $10 million deal is still in play.
Director General
at the State Secretariat for Civil Aviation (SSCA) said neither firm had
initiated the application process for an Airline Operations Certificate (AOC) Cambodia’s
foremost qualification for airline operations for the proposed joint venture. Cambodia
Airlines in 2012 initially aimed to become the country’s second full-service
carrier after Cambodia Angkor Air (CAA), which currently holds a monopoly of
the market.
Royal
Group and PAL’s joint venture, which promised both domestic and international
flights from Cambodia’s main international airports, was slated to launch in
mid-2013 with an initial $1 million investment from PAL. But after missing
closing dates in both June and October last year, the venture has yet to get
off the ground.
In a
report published on July 24, Brendan Sobie, chief analyst and Singapore
representative at the Australian-based Centre for Aviation (CAPA), stated that
Chinese-backed Bassaka Air is now poised to become the next full-service
international carrier based in Cambodia, joining CAA.
Bassaka
Air reportedly has two Airbus A320 aircraft sitting idly at Phnom Penh’s
International Airport ready to commence regular flights to and from China as
early as September this year, pending the SSCA’s regulatory approval. “A slight
delay is possible, but Bassaka should be operating multiple routes to mainland
China by the start of the peak season.”
Aggressive
Chinese investment in Cambodia’s aviation sector comes as little surprise to
Sobie, with the number of Chinese tourists visiting Cambodia during the first
five months of the year reaching more than 240,000, up 19% from 202,000 during
the same five-month period in 2013.
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