As you all may have been aware, my previous post was about my experience on Thai Airways, and I said that I will talk about other airlines as well. For this post, the airline in the spotlight is Cambodia Airways. Having commenced operations in July 2018, they are a new airline and not many people have reviewed them, hence why I decided to. So the question is, how do they rank up?
3/1/19 Cambodia Airways KR801 (PNH-REP) [Airbus A319]
The flight was at 08:45, so I arrived at Phnom Penh Airport 2 hours before the flight to ensure maximum time for check-in and breakfast. Phnom Penh's airport is small, but it was really nice and it's one of the best tiny airports I've been to.
Check in was smooth and hassle free, and after a quick security screening I was at gate 1 well before boarding. After a quick breakfast it was time to board the flight, which ended up being a bus gate. Plus, there was a lot of activity at PNH during the morning as I saw a Spring Air A320, Cambodia Angkor Air A320, SilkAir 737 MAX and various other smaller planes. Probably the reason why it was a bus gate, since Cambodia Airways is supposed to be a full-service airline.
And here's our ride! XU-787, an 8 year old Airbus A319 will be taking me to Siem Reap today.
Once boarding was completed, we pushed back and the captain informed us about the flight time of 30 minutes. The taxi was quick and we climbed out of Phnom Penh at 08:56, with cool views of the city as we ascended to 18,000 feet with some slight bumps along the way.
The seats on this flight were in a 3-3 configuration and the legroom was amazing. Well, I got an exit row seat so that's why, though the regular seats didn't look tight either. The seats were comfortable for this flight, although they did not have any adjustable headrests. Even though I mentioned that this plane was 8 years old, it certainly didn't show any sign of age, with the interiors looking fairly new. Also, there was no food served due to the short flight time.
Service was okay, to say the least. We were handed out water bottles before departure, but because of the flight duration there wasn't really any other type of service. They were happy about doing their job, but that was quite standard.
Before long, we were descending into Siem Reap. Quick note: Except the Thai Airways flights between Mumbai and Bangkok, all the flights in my trip were short hops of an hour or under. Because of this, I didn't get to experience some aspects of those flights be it food, comfort for longer flights, etc.
After what felt like a slow descent, the plane finally touched down at 09:23, 7 minutes ahead of schedule. After a quick taxi to the gate, everyone disembarked and that was the end of the flight on Cambodia Airways.
To conclude, Cambodia Airways is a pretty good airline though not very known based on how new it is. It definitely has great potential and it will be interesting to see how it grows in the coming years. Nevertheless, I would recommend trying this airline out if you happen to be transiting within Cambodia!
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