Flying Into Cambodia: KTI, SAI, KOS — 2026 Airport Guide for Australians

Typical Aussie flight routings to each airport

There are no nonstop flights between any Australian city and Cambodia in 2026. Every Aussie route requires at least one transit stop — Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, or occasionally Bali. The transit point usually decides which Cambodian airport is the cheapest and quickest entry, so it is worth picking the airport first and then choosing the routing around it.

To KTI (Phnom Penh)

The most common Aussie routings into KTI are SYD/MEL → Singapore (SIN) → KTI on Singapore Airlines or Jetstar through Singapore, SYD/MEL → Kuala Lumpur (KUL) → KTI on Malaysia Airlines, and SYD/MEL → Bangkok (BKK) → KTI on Thai Airways. From Perth, the Singapore routing is shortest. From Adelaide and Brisbane, both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur work well. Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines tend to be more punctual; the low-cost options through Singapore can be sharply cheaper if you book early.

To SAI (Siem Reap-Angkor)

For SAI, the dominant carrier is Bangkok Airways on the Bangkok → SAI leg, so the standard Aussie routing is SYD/MEL → Bangkok (BKK) → SAI. The Singapore option also works — SYD/MEL → SIN → SAI on Singapore Airlines or one of the low-cost carriers — but the Bangkok leg is more frequent (roughly hourly through the day) and usually cheaper. The Bangkok → SAI flight itself is just over an hour.

To KOS (Sihanoukville)

There are no direct international flights from Australian transit hubs to KOS in 2026. The standard route is SYD/MEL → SIN or BKK → KTI, then a domestic hop on Cambodia Angkor Air or AirAsia Cambodia from KTI to KOS. The domestic leg is about 45 minutes and runs a few times a day. If you are tight on time, a road transfer from KTI down to Sihanoukville also works — it is around four hours by minivan or private car, on a well-sealed highway.

One quiet routing some Perth travellers use is PER → Denpasar (DPS) → KTI via AirAsia or Citilink — it is not the fastest, but it is sometimes the cheapest if you are flexible on dates. The eVisa vs visa on arrival comparison covers what happens at the booth versus the e-gate after you land, regardless of which airport you pick.

What to do at the Immigration counter (3-step kiosk walkthrough)

The drill is identical at all three airports. Off the plane, follow the Arrivals signs (purely visual — you do not need to read the Khmer), and split into the foreigners queue. There is a separate Cambodian nationals lane; do not stand in that one. The whole process is three steps.

• Step 1 — Join the foreigners queue. Australian passport holders go through the same line as every other visa-required nationality. eVisa holders use the e-gate or visa-holder lane; VoA arrivals are routed to a separate booth before the same Immigration line.
• Step 2 — Hand the Immigration officer your passport with two printed copies of the eVisa PDF tucked in. The officer keeps one copy and returns the other to you — you keep that one in your passport for exit. Cambodian Immigration does not accept the eVisa on a phone screen, even though some other Southeast Asian countries do. Paper, twice, A4.
• Step 3 — Show your e-Arrival QR code on your phone. Save the QR code as a screenshot before you board, because the airport wifi at the queue is unreliable and you do not want to be the person tapping refresh while the line backs up behind you.

The officer stamps you in, returns your passport plus the second eVisa copy, and you are through to baggage. Average end-to-end time at the Immigration counter: 10–20 minutes at KTI and SAI, 5–10 minutes at KOS. If you are travelling as a family, the officer typically processes each passport in sequence at the same window — line up together, do not split.

If anything goes sideways at the counter — wrong stamp, date confusion, or a missing e-Arrival — our Cambodia eVisa vs Visa on Arrival comparison covers the most common Immigration-counter failures and how Aussies have unstuck them. The Australian application walkthrough is the cleanest pre-flight checklist.

From the airport to the city: practical transport notes

The new airport sites at KTI and SAI both moved further out from the city centres than their predecessors, so allow more transfer time than older travel guides suggest. None of the three airports has a rail link yet; everything is road.

KTI to Phnom Penh CBD

About 30 km, around 40 minutes by taxi on a clear run, longer in afternoon traffic on the approach to the city. Expect to pay $15–25 USD (~$23–38 AUD) for a fixed-rate airport taxi from the rank out the front. Grab (the regional ride-hail app) also works and tends to be a few dollars cheaper. There is no train link yet, and the public bus is slow and infrequent — not worth the time saved.

SAI to Siem Reap town

About 50 km, around 45 minutes on the new sealed road. Tuk-tuk or taxi both work from the rank just outside the terminal. Expect $15–25 USD (~$23–38 AUD) by taxi, slightly less by tuk-tuk depending on negotiation. Most hotels in Siem Reap will arrange a pickup for a similar price if you ask ahead — it is the cleanest option after a long flight.

KOS to Sihanoukville town

About 10 km, around 15 minutes by tuk-tuk for roughly $10 USD (~$15 AUD). The Koh Rong ferry pier is another 5 minutes beyond the town centre; most ferry-bound Aussies tuk-tuk straight to the pier from the terminal.

USD and Cambodian Riel are both accepted at all three airports and in onward transport. Skip the airport currency-exchange counters — rates are bad, especially at KTI. ATMs inside the arrival halls give better rates if you need cash, but most Aussies arrive with $50–100 USD in small bills and top up in town later.

What to do if your flight is delayed or rerouted

Flight delays are a normal part of long-haul transit through Singapore or Bangkok, and the good news for Aussies is that the Cambodia eVisa is forgiving on dates. The eVisa is valid for three months from the date it is issued, and the 30-day stay clock only starts when you stamp in at Immigration — not at issue. So a delay of a day, a week, or even a couple of weeks does not invalidate the eVisa. You only need to arrive in Cambodia inside that three-month window.

The e-Arrival Card is the more time-sensitive piece. It needs to match your actual arrival date, and the system holds the data for a fairly narrow window around the date you submit. If your arrival shifts by more than a day — a missed connection, a rebooked flight, a weather diversion — the e-Arrival will need to be resubmitted with the new arrival date. If you booked the e-Arrival through us, we can resubmit it at no extra charge. The direct portal makes you start over from scratch.

If your transit airport changes mid-journey — for example a Bangkok stopover swapped for Kuala Lumpur on a rebooked ticket — your eVisa still works, because the eVisa is tied to your passport rather than to the inbound flight number. The Cambodia visa processing time from Australia guide covers what to do if you have to start the eVisa process at the last minute after a rerouted flight.

A small note on insurance: most Aussie travel policies cover flight delays and missed connections automatically, but the visa fee itself is rarely covered. The Smartraveller advisory is the best official Australian source on Cambodia consular support if anything goes wrong on the ground.

If you are still picking dates around weather and crowds, our best-time-to-visit Cambodia guide covers the dry and wet season trade-offs, festival windows, and which months Aussies tend to find most comfortable.

Next steps and related reading for Australians: apply for your Cambodia eVisa when you are ready to lodge, bookmark our Cambodia visa hub for Australian citizens as the single canonical reference, skim the FAQ on Cambodia visa eligibility for quick answers, and use our glossary of Cambodia visa terms to decode any acronym in this guide.