Angkor Air forecasts first loss

AFTER finishing in the black every year since its launch in 2009, Cambodia’s flagship airline is forecasting a loss for the first time, in a situation that an industry analyst has described as “not necessarily typical”. Cambodia Angkor Air’s (CAA) loss is projected to span two years, this year and the next, its chairman, Tek Reth Samrach, said. He declined to give a figure, saying it is “not that big”. The expected loss is the result of the airline rapidly adding new international routes. This year the airline expects to add four new destinations – Guangzhou, Shanghai, Incheon, and Hong Kong – he said. ... CAA, launched in July 2009, had begun making profits in the same year. In December of that year, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced that “this airline is making a profit because a lot of passengers are using it”, without disclosing figures. The airline’s load factor, according to figures from the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, had increased from 25 per cent in July to between 80 to 90 per cent. ...

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