MYANMAR Airways International (MAI) will begin biweekly flights to Phnom Penh on October 29, Heng Lav, a sales agent for the airline said yesterday.

The Wednesday and Saturday flights from Mandalay will stop over in Siem Reap and are expected to accommodate the growing number of businesspeople, NGO workers and government officials travelling between the two countries, he said. MAI started flights to Siem Reap in February. Meng Hient, a board member at the Cambodian Association of Travel Agents, said the new flights will cut out costly transits in Bangkok, potentially dropping the cost of travel between Mandalay and Phnom Penh by half. “It makes the job of tour operators easier because you can promote the destination better and make it much cheaper,” Meng Hient said, adding that the majority of the market was for foreign travellers.

Growing business and travel between the two countries prompted the increasing number flights, Long Chheng, deputy cabinet chief at the Secretariat of State of Civil Aviation, said yesterday.