KAL ditches Siem Reap

03 Dec 2016 2161 | Cambodia Travel News

SIEM REAP Korean Air will suspend the Incheon-Siem Reap route from early February next year due to its failure to attract enough passengers.

According to the airline’s statement, Korean Air will suspend two routes, next February, due to low demand and pressure on profitability.

“From early February, Korean Air will suspend the Incheon -Siem Reap route and from late February the Incheon-Jeddah (via Riyadh) route,” it read.

Phnom Penh Post quoted the State Secretariat for Civil Aviation spokesman, Sinn Chanserey Vutha, who contradicted the airline’s statement. He claimed the airline’s decision to drop the route was not due to a decline in passenger traffic, but an increase in competition from other airlines.

“It’s suspending the service for commercial reasons as there are many airlines [on this route,] which cuts market share,” he said.

Five carriers currently operate service from Seoul Incheon, the primary airport serving Seoul, to Siem Reap. These include two full-service carriers – Korean Air and Cambodia Angkor Air – and three low-cost carriers (LCCs) – Air Seoul, Air Busan and Eastar Jet, the report said.

Khmer Times quoted Cambodia National Tourism Alliance general secretary, Ho Vandy, saying Korean Air decision to suspend flights to Siem Reap – the home of Angkor Wat – should be taken seriously.

“It could also affect tourists and there could be a cascading impact on businesses that depend on tourism,” he said.

The country should develop more value-added tourism destinations that have entertainment and shopping malls to attract tourists, rather than just depending on temples to lure them, he suggested.

For the first nine months of the year, Cambodia attracted 263,882 Korean travellers decreasing 11.1% from 296,692 visits during the same period last year.

Siem Reap handled 1,568,592 overall international visitors for the first nine months of the year, a 1.4% increase from 1,546,926 visits, during the same period in 2015, according to Ministry of Tourism’s Statistics and Tourism Information Department’s data.