HANOI, 1 March 2019: Vietnam Airlines confirmed this week it intends to launch new routes from cities in Vietnam to Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville in Cambodia.
Plans for the new services unfolded after the airline signed a three-year cooperation agreement with Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism that will offer incentives to establish new routes.
Cambodia is keen to create direct routes from Vietnam to tourist destinations in order to tap growing demand for outbound travel.
Currently, Vietnamese tourists are buying cheap holiday packages to Thailand’s shopping and beach destinations mainly flying low-cost airlines.
The carrier said it would launch new routes from Van Don airport, 50 km from Halong Bay in Quang Ninh Province, and Danang City to Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville.
Four weekly flights will start this April between Danang and Siem Reap. Details of the other proposed services are not available.
Vietnam Airlines already operates 56 flights weekly from Hanoi to Siem Reap and from Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap as well as the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. There are no direct flights to Sihanoukville, a casino and beach resort town located on the southern coast.
But the latest initiative will link secondary cities such Haiphong and Halong Bay in the north and Danang in central Vietnam to Cambodia’s three popular tourist destinations; Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville.
There already direct flights from Danang on Cambodia Angkor Air that offers 56 flights from Siem Reap to Danang and from Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville to Ho Chi Minh City.
