Plans to build new international airports have been put on hold as the Coronavirus pandemic continues to keep tourists and business travellers from visiting the Kingdom.

Investors in new airports in Koh Kong, Battambang and Mondulkiri provinces have postponed their construction plans, according to State Secretariat of Civil Aviation spokesman Sin Chanserivutha.

“Airport investors are concerned that the Covid-19 outbreak is serious,” he said. “Investors are not clear in calculating when the disease will be cured and when transportation will recover, which is why they are delaying investing in the airport.”

One of the projects that has been postponed is a joint venture between LYP group and Bangkok Airways.

The original plan was to build on the site of the former Koh Kong Airport in Khemarak Phoumin City. It was then relocated to a site of around 600 hectares at Koh Por Village in the Mondul Seima District of the province.

The planned June opening of Dara Sakor Airport, also in Koh Kong province, has been delayed even though construction has finished. The project was originally developed by Chinese firm Tianjin Union Development Group (UDG) but is now under the control a new group, Coastal Airport Investment Company.

Chanserivutha said the delay was because a technical team could not travel to the airport to oversee test flights, due to the Coronavirus.

The State Secretariat of Civil Aviation wrapped-up a feasibility study at the end of March into a new airport in Mondulkiri. China Power International Group agreed to invest in the $60 million project last year. It is understood that work on the airport is also now on hold until potential passenger demand increases.

There were also plans to rebuild a small, abandoned airport three kilometres from the centre of Battambang city with funding from private investors. The airport covers nearly 129 hectares. Battambang Airport had one of the Kingdom’s busiest runways when it opened in 1968 but went out of operation during the time of the Khmer Rouge. It was reopened and used for civilian fights until the end of the 1990s but never returned to full operational status.

Phnom Penh’s new $1.5 billion international airport was 40 percent complete at the end of May but it may also be under threat unless the spread of Coronavirus eases enough to allow more international visitors to come to the Cambodian capital. The airport will be able to accommodate 15 million passengers a year at the end of the first phase and 30 million after the second stage.

Cambodia’s three international airports welcomed 2.13 million people, including domestic and transit passengers, last year, down 79 percent from 2019.

Cambodia Airports manages the three international airports in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville but is not connected to the planned new international airports. However, a spokesman said any delay would not profit the company in terms of steering more customers to its three international hubs.

“The crisis is not going to be beneficial for anyone. The crisis is for the whole industry and for the country,” Cambodia Airports spokesman Norinda Khek told Khmer Times.

• Tags: COVID-19 in Cambodia, international airports