During my review trip, I had a layover at Techo International Airport (KTI), which is the new international airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The airport only opened in September 2025, so it’s about two months old. This was a pretty interesting layover for a couple of reasons, which I’d like to share in this post.
In this post:
International transit, a foreign concept at Techo Airport
First for some background, let me explain why I had a layover in Cambodia, of all places. Long story short, I found a good Etihad first class fare out of Techo Airport (in order to review the carrier’s new A321LR first class). On top of that, I was able to book Singapore Airlines’ 737 MAX business class to the airport, letting me check out yet another product that has been on my list.
Now, I can’t imagine that Techo Airport gets many transit passengers, and I wasn’t 100% sure I’d be able to transit airside without entering the country. Cambodia has a visa requirement, though you can get a visa on arrival. So my approach was simple — I’d try to do an international transit while staying airside, and if that wasn’t possible, I’d simply get a visa on arrival. No big deal, right?
Upon arrival at Techo Airport, I headed into the arrivals hall, and was shocked to see clear signage for international transit — hey, this is going to be easy!
After following the signage in the direction of international transit, I found myself at a counter. I presented my mobile boarding pass for my Etihad flight, and the immigration officer looked at it confused. He gestured for me to take a seat, and said “someone from the airline will come.”
So I walked away from the counter for a second, but then thought, “wait a second, that makes no sense.” My connection wasn’t for about six hours, and it was clear to me he wasn’t actually calling anyone to meet me, since he didn’t take down any information. So I politely walked back to the counter, and said “excuse me, how long until someone from the airline comes?”
At this point he took another look at my boarding pass, took pictures of it with his phone, and made a couple of phone calls. Then he sent me around the corner, where there was actually an international transit security checkpoint. Okay, that makes more sense.
There were two separate scanning lanes, and a total of five people staffing this checkpoint. I thought to myself “well maybe they have more people connecting internationally than I would’ve assumed.”
But as I walked up to the scanner, the security person sort of had a deer-in-headlights look on her face, as if they weren’t actually expecting anyone.
I showed her my boarding pass, and she took a picture of it. Then she called over someone else, who also looked at my boarding pass and took a picture of it. Then that person got on the phone. Then someone else showed up who — you guessed it — took a picture of my boarding pass, and got on the phone. Who is getting all of these pictures and phone calls?!?
What’s bizarre here is that they weren’t actually asking me any questions about where I was coming from, and there was no indication that anything was wrong. I even asked if everything was okay or if they needed anything else, and they said everything was fine. As I said above, if they had told me I needed to clear immigration, I would’ve been totally fine with it, but they didn’t.
I stood at the security checkpoint for around 20 minutes, as they went back and forth and were talking about my situation. There were no other transit passengers during that entire time, for what it’s worth.
Eventually I was cleared to go, so everything was fine. I placed all my items on the scanner to the right side, though then they realized it wasn’t working, or something. So then they asked me to place my items on the left scanner. Then they determined that scanner wasn’t working either, or something.
So they carried all my luggage through the metal detectors and to the other end. Then I had a group of people simultaneously going through every millimeter of my luggage, taking apart everything. It was as thorough as you’d expect to be searched if you were in secondary and suspected of drug trafficking, or something (instead of having already cleared security at another airport). After that, I was sent on my way!
I’ve gotta say, this has to be the most bizarre international transit situation I’ve ever experienced. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had much less pleasant international transit experiences (hiiiii, Cairo!), but nothing quite this strange.
Like, they had specific signage for international transit, and they had a very well staffed international transit security checkpoint. Yet seemingly they weren’t actually set up to handle transit passengers, or something? I’m not sure if they just weren’t expecting a transit passenger on Etihad, or what, but it’s strange how neither scanner worked either. Anyway…
Techo Airport might be the most beautiful in the world!
This was my first time passing through Techo Airport (obviously… it just opened two months ago), but damn, this is a gorgeous facility. Purely in terms of architecture, this might be the prettiest midsize airport I’ve ever seen.
I guess the airport initially has the capacity for 13 million passengers per year, but it’s definitely not at capacity yet. During my extended layover, it never got busy at all. Seriously, have you seen a prettier airport terminal?!
Unsurprisingly, the shopping and dining weren’t particularly impressive. However, the lounge situation was good, with both a Plaza Premium and Plaza Premium First Lounge (I wouldn’t have expected there to be the latter). I’ll of course be reviewing those when I publish my full trip report.
Bottom line
Phnom Penh’s new Techo Airport is absolutely gorgeous, probably the prettiest midsize airport I’ve ever seen. What a pleasant surprise.
When it comes to international transit at the airport (for the two other people considering this), there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that it’s possible. The bad news is that it doesn’t really seem like they’re set up for this, despite the signage, the dedicated security checkpoint, etc. What an unusual transit experience this was!
Anyone have a guess of what exactly is up here?
Is it possible you were the first international transfer they've had in the two months they've been open (or the first for those employees)?
Wow, that’s a really nice design. Have you seen the new SAI airport yet? Glad things have calmed down with Thailand. Save travels!
We’re going through Techo in February, and I can’t wait.
Chinese built beautiful airports these days
And here's a chicken dinner for you.
How does the transit experience compare to Manila?! ;)
Just got back from Techo, and couldn't believe what a beautiful and clean facility it was. Kudos.
We were entering on a 3day trip (inbound from Bangkok, outbound to Singapore) to view the Killing Fields museums and others, and man did it take foreverrrrrrrr to enter. A bit too thorough. Guess I can't blame them.
And can confirm that the taking pictures of everything, for no apparent reason or benefit, is totally a thing there. lol
In September 1994 I arrived at Osaka Kansasai on Northwest from Honolulu. Transitting on to Ansett's brand new 747 to Sydney via .Brisbane with 8 hour transit. I arrived at transit desk and the Japanese staff didn't know what to do. I must have been first Ansett transfer passenger! They were polite and told me to come back about 5-6 hours later when Ansett staff came.
They just took a picture because you're a handsome devil :)
To be fair, South East Asia transits are often quite strange and fun in the way there seems to be a hidden bureaucracy to everything. I have found that just keeping calm and keeping track of all your things with a sprinkle of patience goes a long way.
I don't recall if you've been to Cambodia before, but it'd a lovely place to visit