Phnom Penh’s New Airport Opens Under a Roof by Foster + Partners

Techo International Airport opened on 9 September 2025 as the new airport of Phnom Penh. The first commercial arrival was an Air Cambodia flight. The old Phnom Penh International Airport, which had a single runway and handled nearly five million passengers in 2024, ceased regular commercial service. A formal inauguration followed in October.

The terminal

The terminal was designed by the British practice Foster + Partners. It consists of a central building, where passengers check in and pass through security and immigration, and two long piers shaped in plan like aircraft wings. The central building and the northern pier are in use. The southern pier is due by 2030.

The whole of the central building stands under one roof, a light steel lattice carried on columns that branch like trees. The developers say the form of these columns was taken from the rumduol, the national flower. A layered ceiling filters daylight into the hall, which is planted with tropical greenery and looks out to the landscape on all sides. A Buddha nine metres high, with one hand raised in the gesture of reassurance, stands at the centre. The architects describe the building as a celebration of Cambodian culture and light, and as one of the more energy-efficient airports in the region.

The numbers

The airport lies about 20 kilometres south of the city, on a site of some 2,600 hectares on the border of Kandal and Takeo provinces. It cost about US$2 billion and was developed by a joint venture of the state civil aviation authority and the Cambodian group OCIC. The developer gives the capacity of the first phase as 15 million passengers a year. The masterplan, also by Foster + Partners, foresees an airport city and a rail link to the capital in later phases. The airport’s code is KTI.

For travellers

The new airport is much farther from the centre than the old one, which was a short ride from the riverside hotels. The transfer now takes around an hour, more at busy times, and should be allowed for when booking onward travel. In return, the longer runways can take larger aircraft, and the airport is expected to draw long-haul routes that the old one could not handle.

Cambodia has now replaced both of its main airports within two years. A new airport for Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor opened in 2023. Phnom Penh is also the usual starting point for the Cardamom Mountains, where Bill Bensley built a tented camp reached by zip-line; our guide to Bensley’s hotels in Asia describes it. Elsewhere in the region, Bhutan has begun a timber airport at Gelephu.