Phnom Penh Airport (PNH/KTI) — Airport Guide 2026

✈️ The PNH/KTI Switch — What Actually Changed

Air Cambodia flight K6611, inbound from Guangzhou, was the first commercial arrival at Techo on 9 September 2025. The official inauguration followed on 20 October 2025. Every airline that had been operating from the old Pochentong field moved its Phnom Penh operation to Techo on or around that date. Pochentong retained the PNH code — it did not get a new one — and is now a military airbase handling state aircraft, some domestic general aviation, and private jets. No scheduled passenger flights.

The PNH code persists in search engines, booking platforms that update slowly, and three decades of travel writing. If you searched for “Phnom Penh flights” on a site that hasn’t caught up, you may have a ticket displaying PNH in the airport field. You will land at KTI. The two sites are about 30 km apart.

🏗️ Terminal & Carriers

Techo is one building: a Foster + Partners design with a central head house and two piers. One terminal, one structure, no inter-terminal shuttle to time around. Phase 1 is rated for around 13 million passengers a year, with later phases planned to expand that toward 30 million and eventually beyond.

Because the airport had been open less than a year through early 2026, parts of its retail and dining were still being fitted out. Any specific shop or food counter is worth confirming on the concourse rather than pre-planning around. Techo runs on SITA common-use systems, which is how the full airline roster was able to migrate from Pochentong on a single date.

Based at KTI: Air Cambodia (K6), Cambodia Airways (KR), and Sky Angkor Airlines. Vietnam Airlines treats it as a focus city.

International carriers as of early 2026: AirAsia and Thai AirAsia, Bangkok Airways, Thai Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Air China, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Korean Air, Cathay Pacific, and EVA Air. The densest frequencies run to Bangkok and Guangzhou. A handful of airlines published their transition dates separately during the 2025 switchover, so confirm your carrier’s KTI operation at booking rather than assuming the move is complete.

🛂 Border & Visa

Cambodia issues its own entry documents. No EU pre-clearance program, US ESTA equivalent, or regional scheme applies here.

Tourist Visa

The standard T-class tourist visa is US$30 and allows a 30-day stay, extendable once inside the country for another 30 days at an immigration office. Two ways to get it:

• e-Visa — apply in advance at the official portal evisa.gov.kh. Upload a passport scan and photo, pay online, and expect around three business days for processing. Use only the .gov.kh domain; lookalike commercial sites charge a markup for the same document.
• Visa on Arrival — US$30 at the airport counter, paid in cash US dollars on the day. Bring clean, untorn notes — the counter is not equipped for card payments and is not next to an ATM.

ASEAN nationals — Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and the rest of the bloc — enter visa-free for roughly 14 to 30 days depending on nationality. Check your specific passport’s allowance rather than assuming the longer figure.

e-Arrival Card

Every air arrival must complete the Cambodia e-Arrival card before landing. It is free, it is filed online, and it covers immigration, customs and health declarations in a single submission — within the seven days before your arrival date. Techo’s processing flow was designed around this digital-first step; having the QR confirmation ready at the desk keeps the queue moving. Passport validity requirement: at least six months beyond your entry date.

🚌 Getting Into the City

The airport is roughly 20 km south of central Phnom Penh. Without traffic the drive runs about 50 minutes. During morning rush, the midday hour, and the early evening, it takes longer.

Airport Express Bus

One-way: 1,500 KHR, about US$0.37 as of December 2025. Paid in cash into a drop-box on board — riel only, no change given, no cards, no WingPay. This is the one situation in Cambodia where you genuinely need small riel notes rather than dollars.

The bus terminates at the Kouch Cannon Roundabout near the French Embassy, with stops at Canadia Park and the Royal University of Law and Economics along the route. Journey time is around an hour and a quarter to the city centre, more in traffic. This is a new service still settling its timetable — confirm current fare, first departure, and last departure before depending on it.

Taxi

Taxis from the official desk inside arrivals run roughly US$25–35 depending on your destination and conditions. Use the desk, not the informal approach — drivers who walk up to arriving passengers in the hall charge above the desk rate. Agree the fare before you get in.

Ride-Hailing

Grab and local apps PassApp, WowNow, and Move all operate at KTI. A car into central Phnom Penh costs around US$16, more in rush hours. The in-app price is fixed before you accept, which removes the negotiation. Find the designated ride-hail pickup zone using the airport’s signage rather than walking to the taxi rank.

There is no rail connection to Techo and none under construction.

🛋️ Lounges

Both lounges are run by Plaza Premium, airside on Level 3.

Plaza Premium Lounge opens roughly 06:00 to midnight daily. Priority Pass and DragonPass are accepted, with a two-hour maximum stay on those memberships. Day passes can be bought online in advance or at the door. The format is Plaza Premium’s standard: buffet, bar with standard pours, showers, and quiet seating. LoungeKey is not listed as an accepted membership program as of early 2026 — if your card is LoungeKey-only, plan to pay the walk-up rate.

Plaza Premium First is the upper-tier room. It accepts neither Priority Pass nor DragonPass. Entry is for eligible premium-cabin and first-class passengers and paid bookings. Queuing here expecting your lounge card to work is a waste of time.

🍜 Food Before You Fly

Techo’s retail and dining were still filling out through early 2026, so the concourse is thinner than at an established Southeast Asian hub. Expect a food court with Khmer and pan-Asian counters, a couple of coffee chains, and convenience units. Prices are in dollars, padded above town rates.

The Khmer food worth saving your appetite for is not at the airport. Kuy teav — pork-and-rice-noodle breakfast soup, served with a plate of herbs and lime you add yourself — is Cambodia’s morning staple and does not survive an airport counter well. Amok, fish steamed in coconut and kroeung spice paste in a banana-leaf cup, is similarly better made fresh and eaten in town. If your layover is long enough to leave (see below), the noodle stalls and riverside spots along Sisowath Quay and around the Central Market (Phsar Thmei) are the sensible first stop.

Inside the terminal, a bowl of noodle soup and a Cambodian iced coffee — strong, sweet, condensed-milk-heavy — is the honest order while you wait.

💡 Layover Reality

The airport is 20 km south of the city centre. Do the arithmetic before deciding to leave.

Without traffic: roughly 50 minutes each way, so 100 minutes in transit before you’ve arrived anywhere. Add at minimum a two-hour return-security buffer on an international connection and the overhead reaches around four hours before you have seen a single thing. That is before Phnom Penh’s peak-hour traffic, which extends the drive in both directions.

• Under 6 hours: stay airside. Even with a valid visa, the round-trip math doesn’t work. The lounge or a noodle bowl is a better use of the gap.
• 6 to 8 hours: a tight single-target run is possible if you already hold a visa and traffic cooperates. The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda complex and the Sisowath Quay riverside are the closest meaningful destinations. The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21) and Choeung Ek killing fields are reachable but are heavy, deliberate visits that deserve more than a dash against a boarding call — and Choeung Ek is a further 15 km south-west of the city centre, which adds material time.
• 8 hours or more, visa in hand: a genuine half-day works. Build the return leg around traffic reality, not the optimistic drive time.

Without a visa, the question answers itself regardless of layover length: you stay airside.

🔧 Currency & Practical Notes

💵 The Dual-Currency Reality

The official currency is the Cambodian riel (KHR). The US dollar is what daily life runs on. Taxis, hotels, restaurants, airport shops, and most market stalls quote and accept dollars; the riel functions as small change for amounts under a dollar. Pay a US$4.50 bill with a five-dollar note and you receive roughly 2,000 riel back, because there are no US coins in circulation here. The rate locals use is round: about 4,000 riel to the dollar. The market rate sat near 4,030 KHR/USD in May 2026 — verify before travel.

Carry clean, untorn US dollar notes. Cambodian vendors and the visa-on-arrival counter both reject damaged or heavily marked bills. The airport express bus is the one transaction requiring actual riel cash, so take some small riel notes from your first transaction in town rather than relying on getting change elsewhere.

Avoid exchanging large amounts at the airport bureau de change, where the markup is worse than at a city exchange or a bank ATM. Change enough for the bus and your first taxi, and sort the rest in town.

📶 Connectivity

Techo has terminal Wi-Fi. A local SIM or eSIM from Cellcard, Smart, or Metfone is cheap and worth having for Grab, PassApp, and maps. SIM counters are available in arrivals; a city shop will usually price better if you’re not pressed for time.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

📊 At a Glance — KTI/PNH 2026

Fares, visa fees, lounge access terms and exchange rates verified May 2026. Confirm against current sources before travel.