One of Asia’s cheapest countries to get new £1.1billion airport this summer

A HUGE new £1.1billion airport is set to open in Cambodia later this year – and will eventually welcome as many as 45million passengers.

First announced back in 2018, Techo Takhmao International Airport is slated to open to passengers in July.

Located 12 miles from Phnom Penh, the country's capital, the 280million sqft airport will have four floors and a huge central passenger terminal.

When it opens in four months, the new international airport will have 22 gates capable of accommodating 40 aircraft.

Techo International Airport will also have a huge central garden, not too dissimilar to Singapore Changi Airport‘s lush indoor gardens, or the tropical garden at Hamad International Airport in Doha.

The airport, which is being designed by Foster + Partners, will be home to palm trees and millions of plants, reports the local newspaper The Phnom Penh Post.

It will also be covered by a roof canopy, with ‘structural trees' towering 85ft over the aviation hub.

Techo International Airport will also feature a large Buddha statue as well as around 200 other sculptures, each of which will represent Cambodia's history.

Charles Vann, director of Cambodia Airport Investment Corporation, says the entire structure of the airport is designed to reflect the country's heritage, thanks to features like pillarless spaces and palm trees.

The new airport will cost $1.5billion (£1.1billion) to build and is slated to open in three phases.

Its July opening will mark its first phase, with the airport able to accommodate up to 13 million passengers each year.

Capacity will then increase to 30million passengers by 2030 and 45million passengers by 2050.

It will become the ninth largest airport in the world when it opens and will also be a “class 4F” airport.

A class 4F airport is the highest class of airport; other airports in the same category include London Heathrow and Los Angeles International Airport.

Despite opening in just four months' time, potential airlines and flight routes have yet to be confirmed.

The new airport has been designed to help boost the country's tourism and economy.

Wedged between Thailand and Vietnam, Cambodia is somewhat overlooked by Brits.

Last year, a panel of travel experts named Phnom Penh as being the best value for money.

Holidaymakers can explore attractions in the country's capital from as little as £1.

Brits can fly to Cambodia from just £213 for a one-way ticket; however, this requires a stopover in destinations like Guangzhou, China, or Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Elsewhere in the world, Saudi Arabia is also building a huge new airport.

When King Salman International Airport opens in 2030 it will become the biggest airport in the world.

It will boast six runways and be able to accommodate up to 120million passengers when it first opens.

Meanwhile, in the UK, Doncaster Sheffield Airport, which closed in November 2022, could reopen thanks to a new multi-million-pound plan.

And Plymouth Airport hopes to reopen after being closed for more than a decade.