Cambodia Angkor Air, the Kingdom’s flag carrier, is expecting to receive delivery of a leased Airbus aircraft later this week as part of a previously unannounced deal with Dublin-based aircraft leasing and aviation finance company AerCap.

The arrival of the Airbus A320 follows the delivery of two A320s leased from Singapore-based BOC Aviation Ltd earlier this month in a separate deal, Eng Molina, general manager of marketing at Cambodia Angkor Air said yesterday.

He said the airline received its first A320 from BOC on December 4 from Germany, while the second arrived on December 25 from France. The third A320, leased from AerCap, is due to fly to Cambodia from the US and arrive on December 28 or 29.

“The A320 cannot fly directly to Cambodia from the US, so it will need to make many stops and the arrival date will depend on the procedures for the overnight stops,” he explained.

The deals the airline signed with BOC Aviation and AerCap are for dry leased aircrafts that do not include the provision of crew or ground staff.

The twin-engine A320 is one of the world’s most popular civilian aircraft, with seating capacity of up to 180 passengers and a range of nearly 6,500 kilometres. European aircraft manufacturer Airbus lists the new A320 at an average unit price of $98 million.

AerCap could not be reached for comment yesterday.