Emirates has expanded its presence in Southeast Asia with the launch its first ever flights to Cambodia.

The new daily service kicked off this month, coinciding with the start of non-stop flights to Hanoi. Previously, Emirates served Vietnam’s capital via Yangon, but now the Dubai-Yangon service will instead continue onwards to Phnom Penh.

This also marks the first time since 2014 that Phnom Penh and Yangon have been connected by a direct air link, further developing the intra-ASEAN air network.

Badr Abbas, Emirates’ senior vice president of commercial operations for the Far East, was onboard the inaugural flight along with a number of other senior airline executives, plus business leaders and members of the media from the Gulf region. The aircraft was welcomed in Phnom Penh by a traditional water cannon salute.

The Dubai-Yangon-Phnom Penh route will now operate daily using a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. Flights will depart Dubai at 0915 and arrive in Yangon at 1725, before taking off from Myanmar’s largest city at 1855 and arriving in Phnom Penh at 2125. On the return sector, flights depart Phnom Penh at 2310 and arrive in Yangon at 0040. They will then set off again at 0210 and land back in Dubai at 0540.

Passengers are offered a minimum of 35kg of baggage allowance on the flights.

Phnom Penh becomes the 13th Southeast Asian destination and the seventh ASEAN capital city in Emirates network. Emirates won’t be the first Gulf carrier flying to Phnom Penh however; Qatar Airways currently operates to the Cambodian capital as part of its Doha-Ho Chi Minh City route.