COVID-19 considerably affects Cambodia’s aviation sector

• 18 April 2020
• Local News
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Statistics from the Secretariat of Civil Aviation indicate that Cambodia’s aviation sector has experienced considerable impacts as a result of the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic including some obstacles in the construction process of the new airport, coagulating airfreight, and the drastic decline in air travellers.

The details were given in a statement made by H.E Sin Chanserey Vutha, Deputy Director General Technical of State Secretariat of Civil Aviation in a press conference on “Progress and Continuing Direction of the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation” on the morning of 16 April 2020.

“According to the statistics; in January, the number of passengers decreased by more than 20%; in February, the number of travellers fell down to more than 50%. While in March, the fall was more than 70%, kept dropping down to 92% almost 100% by 4 April; and we are not sure how much more it will go down,” said H.E Sin.

In addition to this sharp decline in numbers of those travelling, the COVID-19 pandemic has also triggered inactivity in the airfreight sector.
He explained that freight is facing difficulty; however, the exact statistics on the impact have not yet been made available as they still being studied by the Secretariat Civil Aviation.

“The spread of COVID-19 is also affecting the construction process of the new Phnom Penh International Airport because most of the construction contractors are from China. They have difficulty travelling given that restrictions on Chinese travel have made it hard for them to come back to the construction site,” H.E Sin continued.
Despite this hardship, construction work on the new Phnom Penh International Airport in Kandal and Takeo provinces is still in progress though it is slower than before, reaching the milestone of 30% completed. (Read more)

In response to the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Royal Government of Cambodia has taken a number of measures to provide relief to those airline companies such as offering a minimum tax exemption of 10% for three months. However, if the situation continues, the government will consider taking further possible action.

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