Monday, 12 May 2008

Taiwanese tourists stranded in Cambodia return home via Phnom Penh

05/10/2008

(CNA) Taipei, May 10 (CNA) A group of Taiwanese tourists stranded in Siem Reap, Cambodia, by the abrupt shutdown of Angkor Airways arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Saturday on a China Airlines (CAL) flight from Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia.

The travelers were the first of among 449 Angkor Airways ticket holders to return home after being left without a return flight when the Phnom Penh-headquartered carrier suddenly decided Friday to temporarily suspend all its flights between Taipei and Siem Reap -- home to the world famous Angkor Wat complex -- because of financial woes.

A total of four flights on Saturday were expected to bring a combined 134 of the tourists home, with the remaining passengers expected to catch other flights to Taipei on May 12 and 13.

They have been forced to find connecting flights from Phnom Penh, and Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, on CAL, EVA Airways and Vietnam Airlines.

Such flights added five hours to travel times to Taipei compared to the canceled direct flights between Taipei and Siem Reap, according to local travel agencies, which reportedly will suffer substantial financial losses because of the flight cancellations.

Angkor Airways operated 20 to 23 chartered flights between Taipei and Siem Reap per month. It attributed the suspension of flights to the detention of Alex Lou, the managing director of the carrier's Taipei branch, who is suspected of being involved in Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) embezzlement case.

Lou was responsible for the financial management of the branch, the carrier said, and without him, the branch faced insurmountable cash flow problems.

The suspension of Angkor Airways flights has only added to the woes of debt-ridden FAT, which has leased aircraft to the Cambodian airline for its Taipei-Siem Reap service, FAT executives said.

They noted that the partner airline owes FAT NT$790 million (US$25.77 million) and the cancellation of the flights will deprive FAT of NT$1.34 million in daily income from the lease contract.

FAT, Taiwan's oldest private carrier that has been hit hard by a deteriorating domestic aviation market, filed for bankruptcy protection with the Taipei District Court on Feb. 17 and has been struggling to meet its operating obligations since.

Taipei prosecutors suspect that top-ranking managers at FAT pocketed company funds and purposely let Angkor Airways delay paying FAT the debts in exchange for kickbacks.

(By Elizabeth Hsu)

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