Sihanoukville Airport, Cambodia

Extending the runway at Sihanoukville Airport

Sihanoukville airport was once just a ‘minor’ airport handling 3 aircraft per week, but the tourist appeal of its surrounding area has rapidly promoted it to the status of Cambodia’s third-largest airport. In 2018, it handled 92.6% more passengers than in 2017. Handling this very significant increase in traffic triggered the launch of an extensive expansion programme in 2019, as part of which Menard was awarded the contract for ground improvement works ahead of a new runway extension.

The teams of Menard are currently involved in five months of on-site work to extend the runway at Sihanoukville airport. Already extended twice in recent years (by 900 m and 300 m), the runway will soon be 3.36 km long as a result of this new 860 m extension. It will then be capable of handling larger aircraft and further increases in daily passenger traffic.

The technical solution adopted to improve ground made up of soft, water-saturated clays between 5 and 15 metres depth, requires the installation of 200,000 linear metres of Controlled Modulus Columns (CMC) and 850,000 linear metres of vertical drains.

The ultimate handover of the project is scheduled for 2022.

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