News
Small Planet Cambodia launched
December 15th 2017
This year has been by far the most dynamic 12 months in the modern Cambodian aviation. Read More » JC International Airlines and Lanmei Airlines were launched and many international airlines began flying to the country, including All Nippon Airways, Emirates Airline and Qatar Airways, as well as most Mainland full-service and low-cost carriers.
This month, Small Planet Airlines Cambodia joined the pack, with an inaugural A320 service between the capital, Phnom Penh, and Siem Reap. Small Planet’s Cambodian offshoot is 51%-owned by Aviation Invest Cambodia. Small Planet Group holds equity of 29% and the remaining 20% is controlled by the carrier’s principals.
Lithuania-based Small Planet has been leasing aircraft to Cambodian airlines for five years, but this year is the first time that it flew under its own Aircraft Operator Certificate (OAC). The carrier has dispatched three A320 jets to Cambodia with two more expected in 2018.
“Up to now, we were only flying here in cooperation with local airlines,” said Cambodia-based Small Planet Airlines CEO, Erikas Zubrus. “We expect to have more independence when taking business decisions and improve our aircraft utilization.”
The new entrant plans to launch flights from Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville to Hong Kong, China, South Korea and Japan. “If everything goes to plan, the company will have the capacity to carry one million passengers yearly. Most available seats will be sold through local travel agencies,” Zubrus said.
The Small Planet Group has 18 A320s and four A321s. It also holds AOCs in Lithuania, Poland and Germany. It was trying for a Thai AOC, but the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) did not immediately agree to issue one amid the on-going AOC recertification requirements needed by Thai airlines.
Separately, Lanmei Airlines this week announced three new international routes, all to be launched on December 20. They will be four-weekly A320 flights each between Phnom Penh-Hanoi and Siem Reap-Ho Chi Minh City as well as three times a week A321 Sihanoukville to Hong Kong.
