[2][1] SAI covers an area of 700 hectares (1,730 acres) of land and has a 3,600 m runway.

[5] The airport was built to replace Siem Reap International Airport, which proved unable to handle increased traffic and caused damage to Angkor Wat due to pollution.

[6][3][7] The project was introduced in 2010,[8] and a Chinese company, Yunnan Investment Holdings Limited, was selected to build the airport in December 2016.

[9] Construction started in July 2018, and was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a labor shortage.

[9] The third phase, planned for completion by 2050, will increase the total capacity to over 20 million passengers per year.