KANDAL, Cambodia — Cambodia on Tuesday opened the capital’s new Techo International Airport as officials welcomed an inaugural flight to great fanfare, with the hope of boosting tourism.
Fire trucks crisscrossed streams of water over the Air Cambodia flight from China as it taxied to the terminal in the new $2 billion facility located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) outside of Phnom Penh.
The new three-runway facility replaces the nearly 70-year-old Phnom Penh International Airport which had only one runway. It had been scheduled to be operational in July but the opening was delayed for a technical issue.
“The opening is a major step for Cambodia’s aviation and economy,” former Prime Minister Hun Sen said on social media.
“It’s a great honor to be one of the first passengers to use the airport and it looks absolutely amazing,” said Briton David Weare, who arrived on a flight from Singapore later Tuesday. “I can’t wait to get through and see the rest of it.”
In 2024, Phnom Penh International Airport saw 4.75 million passengers. The new airport is initially expected to be able to accommodate 13 million passengers, but that capacity will increase to 30 million after 2030 and up to 50 million by 2050.
The opening follows the inauguration of the Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport in 2023 near the country’s most popular tourist attraction, the centuries-old Angkor Wat temple complex and comes as Cambodia looks to capitalize on the lucrative tourism industry.
In 2024, some 6.7 million international tourists visited the Southeast Asian country, a 23% increase from 2023.
But tensions between Cambodia and neighboring Thailand could complicate efforts to attract more tourists, with at least 41 soldiers and civilians being killed in armed border clashes before a shaky truce was reached on July 28.
While the new airport in Siem Reap was financed by China, the Techo International Airport is a joint venture between the Cambodian government and the Overseas Cambodian Investment Corp, according to authorities.
The airport’s name “Techo,” or powerful in the Khmer language, is an honorific given to top army commanders in Cambodia, including Hun Sen.
It was designed by Britain’s Foster + Partners and built by the China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Group Co. Ltd.
By Tuesday’s inauguration, the airport’s initial $1.5 billion price tag had risen to $2 billion, said Sinn Chanserey Vutha, spokesperson for Cambodia’s civil aviation authority.
Prime Minister Hun Manet, who took over from his father Hun Sen in 2023 after winning elections that were criticized internationally as being neither free nor fair, said in May that Phnom Penh’s old airport will continue to be maintained even with the opening of the new facility.
The Cambodian military will continue to use the facility and the runway will also be kept available in case of emergency.
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Rising reported from Bangkok.
