C AMBODIA International Airways (CIA) has announced it has entered into talks
with the government over the resurrection of Royal Air Cambodge (RAC).
A
CIA spokeswoman, who declined to be named, said: "There has been a meeting
between Co-Prime Minister Ranarridh and the management to discusss CIA
participating in the creation of Royal Air Cambodge.
"CIA will also be
responsible for the upgrading of airport facilities. We hope there will be
long-haul flights to the US and Europe on wide body jets soon.
"We cannot
yet say whether this will be carried out in cooperation with other airlines or
if it will simply mean that CIA will be renamed Royal Air Cambodge.
"But
in making this press release the management is demonstrating its confidence that
something concrete is going to happen."
RAC, originally conceived as a
joint venture between the government and Singapore International Airlines (SIA),
was due to have begun flights today as a new national flag carrier.
But
last month SIA said the deal was shelved indefinitely due to political
instability in Cambodia.
SIA had demanded that CIA and SK Air/Kampuchea
Airlines cease operations so RAC could have a monopoly on Cambodia's seat quotas
in bilateral agreements with other countries. This lead to fears of large
increases in fares.
Kampuchea Airlines is preparing to launch new
international routes after taking over all flight operations from its Thai
partner SK Air, which has now solely become a ticketing agent.
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