PHNOM PENH, Nov. 11 (FN) -- Cambodia's national flag carrier Cambodia Angkor Air (CAA) will launch direct flights between northwest Cambodia's Siem Reap province and China's Beijing, starting from Dec. 16 onwards, said a CAA's press release on Friday.

The airline will operate thrice-weekly flight service by using an Airbus A320 aircraft, which is capable to seat 180 passengers, the press release said.

"This is a new regular flight connecting Cambodia and China in addition to the existing flights to Guangzhou and Shanghai," it said.

According to the press release, the new flight is to respond to the rapid growth of Chinese tourists to Cambodia and will be easy for tourists in Beijing to travel to Siem Reap province, the home of famed Angkor Wat Temple.

Also, it will be easy for Cambodian people to fly to Beijing for leisure or business purposes, it added.

"The five-hour flight between the two destinations will make Chinese tourists easier to travel to Siem Reap-Angkor," said CAA's chairman Tekreth Samrach.

China ranked the second largest source of tourists to Cambodia after Vietnam. According to a tourism data, some 700,000 Chinese tourists visited Cambodia in 2015, up 24 percent year-on-year.

Established in 2009, CAA is using seven aircrafts--three ATR72-turboprop planes and four Airbuses--to operate two domestic routes and 10 regular international routes.