REP – PNH on Bassaka Air
5B 902
A320 XU-118
Depart: 10:55 AM
Arrive: 11:35 AM
Background
On a recent trip to SE Asia, my wife and I needed to take a quick flight to Phenom Penh to see a friend of mine after visiting Angkor Wat. We chose to fly Bassaka Air- 5B on this segment because they operated the earliest departure.
Bassaka Air is a Cambodian airline founded in 2014. They operate a fleet of three 150 seat A320's and mainly focus on charter flights between Cambodia and China although they do operate scheduled services from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and Macau.
Preflight
Bassaka Air has a basic but functional website – bassakaair.com. It had no problems accepting my US-issued Mastercard and I was able to take advantage of their promotional pricing of only $24/person for the flight after only a few clicks. The Website does allow passengers to view their reservation but since 5B does not offer advance seat allocations or the ability to prepay for excess baggage or change flights the manage booking function is rather basic.
Airport
We took our a Tuk-Tuk from our hotel on Pub Street to REP, which took around 15 minutes and cost $5, arriving 75 minutes prior to departure. There was no queue at the Bassaka check-in area and we and our bags were checked-in right away by the contracted “Cambodia Airports” staff. I was actually impressed by Bassaka's branding – when flying similar carriers in Africa and Europe I always received generic handling agent boarding passes and baggage tags – 5B however has boarding passes and bag tags with their specific branding and logo. The REP domestic terminal is tiny and consists of 6 check-in counters, one security lane, two shops, one cafe, a two “gates” which are really just doors.
Mr. Ferrari, my driver
Terminal
Check-In
Boarding Pass
Bag Tags/Receipt
Boarding began late at 10:40 AM due to a delayed Cambodia Angkor Air flight to Sihanoukville taking up our “door”. There was no boarding announcement – the staff simply opened up the door and starting scanning BP's and checking ID's without saying a word. There were only 95 passengers on the flight but this still required two buses. After being bused to the aircraft and climbing the stairs, we were greeted at the door by a friendly FA and made our way to our seats, 6A and 6B. XU-118 is a 9 year old A320 that was previously operated by TACA and TransAsia Airways (Taiwan) – the aircraft still has the TransAsia interior. The seats were comfortable with adequate legroom however.
Boarding about to Begin
At 11:05, the Bassaka Air technician (5B has a mechanic that travels with the aircraft) boarded the aircraft and took a seat in the Business Class cabin. The doors were then closed and safety demonstration completed while the aircraft was pushed back. We were in the air at 11:15 AM.
Safety Demo
Safety Card
Inflight
Siem Reap to Phnom Penh only takes 25 minutes in the air so there relaly was not much service to speak of. The 4 FA's on board offered passengers a cold drink (in Bassaka branded cups) and that was about it. We were only at cruise for 8 minutes so the FA's were quite efficient. We landed in Phnom Penh at 11:40 AM, taxied to a remote stand and were bused to the baggage claim.
Climb
Legroom
Beverage Service
On Stand in PNH - You will notice Bassaka's livery is in Chinese on one side and English on the other. A reflection of their dedication to the Chinese market.
Overall Impression
Considering the price, Bassaka Air was great. The flights were safe, comfortable and relatively on-time so I really have no complaints.