Cambodia opens a new airport to serve Angkor Wat as it seeks to boost tourist arrivals

Commercial operations have begun at Cambodia’s newest and biggest airport, designed to serve as an upgraded gateway to the country’s major tourist attraction, the centuries-old Angkor Wat temple complex in the northwestern province of Siem Reap. The Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport was built at a cost of about $1.1 billion. It replaces an older airport that is being retired in part because of fear that vibrations from frequent flights were damaging the temples’ foundations. The new airport can handle 7 million passengers a year, with plans to augment it to handle 12 million passengers annually from 2040.