Cambodia to introduce safer air route from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville

The Cambodian government will introduce safer route between the kingdom's hottest travel destinations Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, thus reducing the possibility of air crash, local press reported on Tuesday.

Future flights between the two cities will avoid mountainous areas judged to be too dangerous, but the detour will mean flights last twice as long, English-language newspaper the Cambodian Daily quoted officials as saying.

It was unclear when any air carrier will begin serving the new route, which is still in the process of mapping, it said.

"The new route is expected to be safer but it needs to detour around the area where we think it isn't safe," said Him Sarun, cabinet chief at the State Secretariat for Civil Aviation.

"We believe the new route will take an hour and a half while the current route is just 45 minutes," he added.

Cambodia's PMT Air Flight U4 241 crashed on June 25 into a Kampot province mountainside en route from Siem Reap and only 51 km from Sihanoukville's Kang Keng Airport. All 22 people aboard were killed.

Tourism is one of the pillar industries of Cambodia. The flight route from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville was just kicked off early this year to further promote the tourist boom.

Source: Xinhua