Siem Reap Air tries to calm fears over jobs

Baggage handlers unload bags from a Bangkok Airways flight at Siem Reap International Airport.

With the end of domestic flights by parent firm Bangkok Air, some flight attendants are reportedly looking for employment

SIEM Reap Airways moved to allay employment fears among Cambodian cabin crew working for its parent company Bangkok Airways as the Thai airline operated its last flights on domestic routes Saturday.In a letter to staff obtained by the Post, Siem Reap Airways General Manager Terry Alton said the employment of all staff, including captains, first officers and cabin crew, would “continue as it has since last November”, referring to the month the airline ceased commercial operations after being blacklisted by the European Commission. Neither Siem Reap Airways nor Bangkok Airways runs domestic flights in Cambodia since the latter’s licence expired without renewal at the weekend.In the letter to staff, Alton said he had heard reports that “indicate captains, first officers and cabin crew will be suspended from duty as from 25 October 2009. "I would like to make it absolutely clear that this is not correct,” he wrote, adding that the airline is close to resuming full operations. Alton said in an interview that he planned to discuss the matter with staff in person Tuesday after sending the letter Friday.Bangkok Airways Deputy Manager of International Media Relations Ekkaphon Nanta O’Sot said Friday that the employment of cabin staff was a matter for Siem Reap Airways, as they were employed only on domestic routes, but confirmed that pilots were employed by Bangkok Airways and would continue to be scheduled on international flights.A Bangkok Airways pilot, who previously flew for Siem Reap Airways but is now an employee of the Thai airline, said he had no concerns over his future employment. “I have no problems because Bangkok Airways still has international flights,” said the pilot, who asked not to be identified. “The government has only closed domestic flights.”However, the pilot said he was paid on the number of landings he made and was worried that he would be scheduled on fewer flights with the end of Siem Reap-Phnom Penh route. He added that concerns were rising among cabin staff.One flight attendant said she had already had an interview for a job with the new national carrier Cambodia Angkor Air (CAA). The attendant, who asked to remain anonymous, said co-workers had also applied to CAA due to mounting fears over their jobs.Bangkok Airways took over the routes from Siem Reap Airways last November, using cabin crew on loan from the grounded airline. Staff continued to be employed by the domestic subsidiary, which is currently in negotiations with aircraft owners to lease a plane for registration in Cambodia. It has been cleared by the government for takeoff as soon as it registers a plane locally.Bangkok Airways flew its last domestic routes between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh on Saturday after the government said last month it would not renew the permit as the part government-owned carrier CAA was operating. CAA is a joint venture between the Cambodian government and Vietnam Airlines, which owns 49 percent. It emerged this month that the airline has not yet been registered in Cambodia and is flying under a Vietnam Airlines air operator certificate as it completes local registration processes.

Disaster authority revises toll from Ketsana, warns of food shortages

DISASTER officials revised their estimates of the damage caused by Typhoon Ketsana upwards on Sunday, declaring that more than 66,000 families forced from their homes by floodwaters are facing imminent food shortages.At least 43 people died and 67 were seriously injured during the killer typhoon and its ensuing floods, National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) spokesman Keo Vy said. Kampong Thom province, which bore the brunt of the storm, suffered the heaviest casualties, with 20 deaths. Siem Reap province recorded eight fatalities, four died in Preah Sihanouk; Kampong Cham, Kampot and Ratanakkiri reported three deaths each. Two died in Kampong Chhnang.Uy Sam Ath, director of disaster management at the Cambodian Red Cross (CRC), said that so far, his organisation has provided emergency food and non-food relief to 44,885 families, spending nearly $53 million on food aid alone – dwarfing the NCDM’s running Ketsana damage estimate of $44 million. “This food is enough to live on for the time being, but we cannot sustain this relief for much longer,” he said. “I really regret what happened in our country. So much was destroyed in such a short time.”Canals inundated with runoff from Ketsana have compounded the misery of hundreds of families in Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district, who have been displaced by floods that have been blamed on the filling-in of Boeung Kak lake. Ly Rosyami, Russey Keo district deputy governor, said Sunday that the flooding has affected 2,409 families in Russey Keo district so far.“We’ve surveyed the number of families affected by floods in four of Russey Keo’s communes and found that out of these, 262 families had to leave their homes and rent accommodation elsewhere,” she said. Data from other communes have yet to be collated because flooding has rendered them inaccessible. Keath Chantha, 43, a widow and mother of five, fled her home a month ago and is still waiting for the water to recede. “Hundreds of poor families are still living in their flooded homes, some of them lacking food, but none of the authorities are providing food for them,” she said.Kep Chuktema, governor of Phnom Penh, vowed to improve infrastructure in the district. “Next year, we will build a dam station in Russey Keo district to protect the area from flooding,” he said.

Thaksin a central figure at 15th ASEAN summit

Hun Sen arrives at Phnom Penh International Airport after attending the 15th ASEAN summit in southern Thailand.

Hun Sen’s overtures to Thai ex-PM stoke rhetorical flames, but Hor Namhong emphasises progress on regional economic ties, meeting with US president.

RIME Minister Hun Sen, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and the rest of the Cambodian delegation returned Sunday from the 15th ASEAN summit in Hua Hin, Thailand, a meeting at which leaders faced distraction by Hun Sen’s controversial invitation to Thai ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.Speaking to reporters after his arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport, Hor Namhong said that ASEAN leaders had focused on bolstering economic ties both within the bloc and with global allies.“There will be a meeting between leaders of ASEAN and US President Barack Obama on November 15 in Singapore,” Hor Namhong said, adding that regular meetings between the US and ASEAN would occur in the future.China, meanwhile, promised to increase its loans to ASEAN nations to US$6.5 billion, while Japan “will look for investment in developing members of ASEAN including Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar,” Hor Namhong said.Away from the meeting rooms in Hua Hin, though, Hun Sen and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva engaged in a war of words stemming from Hun Sen’s invitation for the exiled Thaksin, on the run from Thailand following his ouster in a 2006 coup and conviction on corruption charges, to come to Cambodia and serve as his economic adviser. “Millions of Thai people, the Red Shirts, support Thaksin. Why as a friend can’t I support Thaksin?” Hun Sen said in Hua Hin, adding: “Many people talk about Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, why not talk about Thaksin? That cannot be referred to as interfering.”Abhisit rebuked his guest, telling reporters there was no comparison with the Myanmar opposition leader. “I don’t know how many people share [Hun Sen’s] view that Thaksin is like Aung San Suu Kyi. I doubt there are many, for fairly obvious reasons,” Abhisit said.Thailand deployed thousands of security forces in and around Cha-Am over the weekend in order to avoid repeats of disruptions at previous summits. Bangkok’s The Nation newspaper reported Sunday, however, that members of the anti-Thaksin People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) plan to protest next month outside the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok. Hor Namhong said that despite recent differences, the Cambodian government had “received assurances from Thai authorities that they will protect our embassy.”