Sky Angkor to stick with Airbus for expansion
Sky Angkor Airlines has abandoned a plan to lease two Russian Sukhoi aircraft after the deal proved “problematic,” and will instead look to use more conventional Airbus commercial jets to support its route expansion plans, a company executive said on December 27. The Korean-Cambodian airline had announced in August 2015 a deal with Russian aircraft leasing firm Ilyushin Finance to wet-lease two Sukhoi SuperJet 110 aircraft from Russian airline Red Wings. However, the delivery date was repeatedly pushed back on technical and regulatory issues. Lee Moon Seop, general manager of Sky Angkor Air, said the deal was abandoned altogether because both the airline and Cambodian aviation officials were unfamiliar with the twin-engine Russian aircraft, presenting an array of operating and regulatory challenges. “We abandoned the deal to lease the two aircraft from Sukhoi . . . because there were many problems we would have to deal with, such as [specialised training for] pilots, cabin crews, engineers, maintenance procedures and so on,” he said. “Our systems and organisation are based only on the A320 series, and we found that we could not handle or afford the [additional] expenses.”
