Siem Reap International Airport handled more than 340,000 passengers in January, breaking the 300,000 mark for the first time, an airport’s press release said yesterday.

After a 32 per cent growth in 2011, the current figure represents a 27 per cent increase  of the passengers handled year-on-year.

The airport registered 3,366 aircraft movements last month, more than ever before in Siem Reap, the press release said.

“North Asia stands out as the largest contributor of traffic into the city,” the press release said.

According to immigration authorities, most customers came from South Korea (611,000), China (335,000) and Japan (244,000) in 2012. Arrivals and departures from China jumped by 56.5 per cent compared with 2011.

“We are delighted to see the robust traffic growth in Siem Reap, driven by the rising interest in the Angkor Wat temples and in Cambodia,“ Emmanuel Menanteau, chief executive officer of Cambodia Airports, said in the press release.

“The world heritage Angkor Wat in Siem Reap is one of the most important cultural tourism sites in Southeast Asia,“ Ho Vandy, co-chairman of the tourism private sector working group, told the Post yesterday.

The airport plans more than 1,000 extra charter flights during the first peak season this year.

In 2013, Cambodia plans to double the handling capacity of the airports in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh to five million passengers each.

The airport scored another first in December after it saw its two-millionth passenger.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Thust at [email protected]