10 reviews
Hello everyone and welcome to another flight report. This time i will be flying onboard an ATR72-500 from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh City operated by Cambodia's national airline, Cambodia Angkor Air. For those interested a video version of this flight report is available on my YouTube channel, it is linked above.
So after spending 3 wonderful days in Siem Reap it was time to leave and head Vietnam. Cambodia Angkor Air is a rather small airline with a meager fleet of ATR,Airbus A320s and Airbus A321s. I was flying on a turbo prop aircraft for the first time so i was quite excited to try a new aircraft rather then the usual jets.We got to the airport after a short 10 minute drive from our hotel. The airport was not very far from the main city area.
Ok so basically we reached the airport at 9:30 am for our "supposedly" K6808 11:35am departure. However after getting to the airport we were told that our flight is cancelled due to "operational reasons" and all the passengers of the earlier flight were rebooked on the later K6824 flight. To be honest i wasn't really disappointed with that considering the next flight was just 1 hour 30 minutes later. I guess this is what many smaller airlines do, if they have 2 flights with 50% load each they cancel one of the flights and rebook the passengers on one flight only.
At the check in desks the airline also gave us meal vouchers to eat anything from one the restaurants at the airport. I felt that was a good touch by them.
Decided to use the meal voucher at Dairy Queen and got myself a delicious chilli cheese dog and a strawberry milkshake. For me the milkshakes at Dairy Queen have always been one of my favourites. Then got myself a strawberry sundae as i was in a mood for some dessert.
After devouring the hotdog and sundae made my way to the gate area. They are few duty free shops , although they were quite pricey.
Since there was not much to do and considering there was quite some time to board our flight i decided to do some plane spotting to pass time. There are quiet some nice spots to take pictures at the airport, although its mainly narrowbodies that visit the airport.
Very soon the aircraft operating our flight arrived from its domestic hop from Sihanoukville.The aircraft operating my flight was a 10.5 year old ATR72-500 with the registration of XU-237.
Very soon it was time to board the aircraft. As there are no jetways at Siem Reap the only way to board the aircraft is through passenger steps and because of this i can get some really nice tarmac views.
Made my way to my seat,9A,for the short flight.It was located right next to one of the propeller engines.
The legroom for me was quite surprisingly good as i thought it would be quite cramped up considering this was such a small aircraft.But it was rather ok and just enough for the flight.
The seat pocket contents consisted of the ATR72-500 safety card and the " Angkor" inflight magazine.The magazine had quite a few interesting articles to go through.
We pushed back from our gate on time and and just like always, how unpredictable weather is in South East Asia, this time was no different. A nice sunny afternoon turned into quite stormy weather.
A quick taxi from our gate to Runway 23 and we lift off on our way to Ho Chi Minh City.
Siem Reap is really beautiful city with some stunning temples that date to centuries back. I would definitely recommend anyone to visit this city.
We cruised at 22000 feet for only a short span of time as the flight wasn't very long. I was surprised there wasn't any such service on this flight. But i read that the airline recently shifted to an LCC not long before i took this flight.But then again i was quite full from the meal i had at the airport earlier.
Very shortly we commenced our descent into Tan Son Nhat International Airport. It was quite a cloudy approach into Ho Chi Minh that evening hence it got bumpy from time to time in the small ATR.
Just like departures out of Ho Chi Minh , the landings are also no different. While approaching the airport we fly over the huge city that houses close to 9 million people.I am pretty sure approaches at night will look so pretty with all the lights of the numerous buildings flashing.
And…… we touchdown in Tan Son Nhat International Airport on time. Good job by the pilots with the landing.
After exiting the runway it was a short taxi to one of the remote ATR stands.Bringing us to the end of this fight report.
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Overall i quiet enjoyed flying on an ATR aircraft for the first time. This seat comfort was acceptable , not the most comfortable but the legroom was quiet good for a small aircraft . The way the airline handled the cancelled flight issue was acceptable for me as i didn't have to fly anywhere else but for people continuing to other destinations than i would see if could create problems. And after reading a few reviews it looks like this is not the first time Cambodia Angkor Air did something like this, so beware future travellers it could happen to you.
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