PHNOM PENH, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Siem Reap International Airport on Friday welcomed its first international passenger flight in 20 months, with an inaugural flight from Singapore, said a joint statement.
Singapore Airlines' (SIA) inaugural flight from Singapore to Siem Reap, SQ164, arrived at 9:45 a.m. local time (0145 GMT), said the statement released by the SIA and the Cambodia Airports that operates the country's three international airports.
"This is the first international flight to Siem Reap since March 2020," the statement said. "The relaunch of the service will help to rebuild air traffic between the two countries following the challenging months arising from the pandemic."
The SIA will operate daily flights between Siem Reap and Singapore on the Boeing 737-8, it said, adding that Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) flights will be operated four times weekly from Siem Reap to Singapore.
These flights will offer quarantine-free entry into Singapore for eligible travellers, the statement said, adding that the designated VTL flight, SQ163, will operate on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. All other flights between Siem Reap and Singapore are non-VTL flights.
"The re-introduction of international services between Singapore and Siem Reap is great news for our customers, who can resume travel between the cities and connect on to other destinations in our network," said Zechariah Chai, general manager for SIA Cambodia.
Alain Brun, chief executive officer of Cambodia Airports, said this new stage in relaunching international connectivity is a positive step forward for Cambodia.
"Not only will Siem Reap have more visitors and assert its position as Cambodia's top leisure and cultural destination, but passengers can also easily travel between Cambodia and other international cities via Singapore Airlines' extensive global flight network," he said.
Cambodia has reopened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers since November after most of its population have been inoculated against the COVID-19, mostly using China's Sinovac and Sinopharm.
The country registered eight new COVID-19 cases and three new deaths on Friday, according to the ministry of health. Enditem
