PHNOM PENH, 21 May 2020: JC Airlines, a joint venture airline with Chinese investors based in Cambodia, will launch a service to Chiang Mai this July.
The airline has logged timetable information with booking sites for a twice-weekly service. Even without Covid-19 dampening demand, building enough bookings between the northern Thailand city and Cambodia’s capital to breakeven remains a challenge.
JC Cambodia International had earlier announced it would start the service in early March, but the lockdown in Thailand and the ongoing ban on international flights to all airports across the country until at least 30 June disrupted launch plans.
Now the airline is scheduling the service for 3 July with flights on Tuesday and Friday departing Phnom Penh at 1415 and arriving in Chiang Mai at 1600.
Tourism officials in Chiang Mai confirmed this week travellers arriving in Chiang Mai would not be subject to a 14-day quarantine. They will need to fill out a health form, register on an APP and must immediately report to officials if they show any symptoms during their stay.
But there is no guarantee that that the ban on international travel to Thailand will be lifted on 30 June. It depends on whether Thailand can continue to limit new Covid-cases to single digits as the country eases out of a lockdown.
Founded in 2014, JC International Airlines is based at Phnom Penh International Airport in Cambodia. It launched operations in March 2017 first on domestic routes and then mainly to China.
