The establishment of a new international airport in Sihanoukville is a matter for public and private actors concerning local, national and supranational stakes. It can be analyzed in economical and political terms. This work examines how stakes of local development take a geopolitical dimension: such a project is very important from divergent points of view and it can also be considered as a means for Cambodia to affirm its position at an international scale. It appears that Sihanoukville airport is the result of a tight economical and political collaboration between public and private partners, so that the country might have a more important position in regional trade and a leading political role in South-East Asia above all.