U DOM Tantiprasongchai, the Thai managing director of Cambodian International Airlines (CIA), reacted furiously to the airlines' forced closure by the government.

"This is an outlaw country," Udom declared the day after receiving the closure notice on Dec 22. "It is a shocking incident."

"I don't know anyone in the world who would give this kind of instruction. This is Cambodia...violating law."

Udom referred to his poor relationship with certain government members, and claimed Kampuchea Airlines had been infuriated with CIA's competitive fare prices.

In an open letter issued on Dec 25, Udom said the Cambodian government had "let me down" by treating him as an opportunist in a developing country.

He said he had invested $12 million in CIA, which he now lose.

CIA's attitude in its two-and-a-half years of operation had been to provide cheap fares for the sake of offering competition and carving out a long-term solid market for itself.

'For the first six months we carried an average of 22 passengers per flight - 30 less than I needed too break even. Even with losses averaging $8000 per flight we kept to our plan."