Air Cambodia

Is Air Cambodia safe?

Yes, on the record so far. Air Cambodia, Cambodia's flag carrier and until recently called Cambodia Angkor Air, has flown since 2009 without an accident on record. It is an IATA member, so it passes an IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary safety audit every two years, and no Cambodian airline is on the EU Air Safety ListEU Air Safety ListThe European Commission's list of airlines banned or restricted from flying in EU airspace because they do not meet international safety standards.More in the glossary. We score it 76. The record is clean but short, and it belongs to a very small airline: six aircraft in mid-2026. Cambodia's authorities publish little about incidents, so we cannot check the record as closely as we can for Vietnam Airlines or Bangkok Airways.

Who runs Air Cambodia?

The airline was set up by the Cambodian government in 2009 with Vietnam Airlines as partner. In its early years, Vietnam Airlines leased it aircraft and staff and shared flight numbers on Vietnamese routes. Today its shareholders include the Cambodian government, Henan Airport Investment Group, a large Chinese state company, and Vietnam Airlines. The board chairman is Cambodia's minister in charge of civil aviation, and the airline also flies VIP flights for the royal family and the prime minister.

That mix shapes the network. Air Cambodia flies to many Chinese cities, with a Chinese headquarters in Zhengzhou, as well as to Vietnam, Thailand, India and Japan. Its hub is Phnom Penh Techo International, the capital's new airport.

What does Air Cambodia fly?

All six are current types, but the jets are older ceo models, not the newer neo, and the airline does not publish their age. The fleet is about to change. In July 2026 Air Cambodia signed a purchase agreement for ten COMAC C909 regional jets with ten more as options, and ch-aviation reports the first two are due in November 2026, the rest by 2029. Ten Boeing 737-8s are also on firm order. The C909, first sold as the ARJ21, has had no fatal accident, but nearly all its flying has been in China, so its record proves less than that of the A320 or the ATR.

Incidents and oversight

The most serious event we found is now ten and a half years old. On 2 April 2016 an ATR 72 on flight K6-818 from Phnom Penh landed in a strong crosswind at Ho Chi Minh City, veered off the right side of the runway and stopped on the grass with 21 passengers on board. Nobody was hurt and the damage was minor, but Vietnam's authority investigated it as a serious incident. It falls just outside our ten-year window, so it does not lower the score.

Since then, neither the accident databases nor the French BEA, which is told about investigations into Airbus and ATR aircraft, list any event. That is good news with a caveat. Cambodia's aviation authorities publish very little, and an airline this small does not appear often in foreign records. We score incidents at 65, not higher, for that reason.

The strongest outside check is IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary. Air Cambodia says it is the only Cambodian airline with the audit, and its IATA membership confirms it. Cambodia is not on the FAA's IASAFAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary list, because no Cambodian airline flies to the United States, and we could not see its ICAO audit score.

Flying Air Cambodia in practice

• Watch for the C909 from late 2026. If you prefer a type with a long record, check the aircraft on your booking.
• Plan around the wet season on Siem Reap and Mekong routes. Thunderstorms are frequent from about May to October. A go-around or a short hold is routine; tight connections are the bigger risk.
• Book the codeshare through the partner that flies it. On Vietnam routes some flights carry both K6 and VN numbers. The airline that operates the flight is the one whose record applies.

How we scored it

The accident record (86) carries the most weight: no accident in 17 years, but on a very small fleet. Oversight (70) rests on IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary and the absence of any EU listing, offset by a regulator that publishes little. The fleet (68) is small and of current types, with a new Chinese type arriving. Incidents (65) reflects a thin public record, and the environment (72) the flat terrain and new airports. Compare Lao Airlines, which flies a similar network from Vientiane.