Turkish Airlines entered the Cambodian air freight market over the weekend, paving a possible path to opening a commercial route between the two countries over the next year. The Phnom Penh Post reported Monday that the maiden flight bore a cargo of 55 tonnes into Cambodia and 52 tonnes to Istanbul. The paper quoted GSA-One World Aviation Co Ltd manager Buthay Outdom as saying that the partnership "will consider having a passenger flight within the next year."

The new arrangement came in the wake of a visit by Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu to Cambodia in March 2015, during which he held bilateral talks with Cambodia's then Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.

Both agreed that strengthening bilateral relations would include bolstering economic partnerships, and Çavuşoğlu said he would encourage Turkish Airlines to "start flights" to the Southeast Asian country.

The freighter Airbus 330 will fly every Saturday, and the agreement was made in 2014, the Post said. Turkish Airlines offers flights to over 250 international destinations in over 100 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas.