GEORGE TOWN: The stature of the Penang International Airport (PEN) will be enhanced once the ongoing RM261 million renovation is complete.
MAHB airline marketing general manager Mohamed Sallauddin Mat Sah said Penang remains a prime travel location and PEN will serve as a catalyst towards the island state retaining its status.
“Penang has a huge market for aviation travel and it looks to remain as such for the future,” he said.
He added that a few international carriers have expressed interest in flying in to Penang, and acknowledged the importance of expediting the expansion of the airport to accommodate up to 16 million passengers per annum in the future.
The airport also serves as a gateway to states in the northern region, namely Perlis, Kedah, and Perak.
Sallauddin said the airport served 8.3 million passengers in 2019, up from 7.8 million passengers in 2018.
The airport’s upgrading exercise will see up to 21 aircraft stands installed, from the 13 now, to meet the flow of 4,500 passengers per hour.
Check-in counters will be increased from 61 to 78 and immigration counters will be increased from 12 counters each for arrival and departure to 28 counters respectively.
There will be 1,300 new parking bays from the present 850.
As of last year, the airport handled 6,788 inbound and outbound commercial flights to 11 countries while there are 27 airliners here who flew to 52 destinations.
Sallauddin was speaking to the media after the inaugural direct fight of the Taiwanese boutique carrier Starlux to Penang recently.
Starlux CEO Glenn Chai said the airline earmarked Penang, alongside Macau, and Da Nang, Vietnam, as the first three destinations that it chose to fly to due to the popularity of these destinations.
Starlux is a new airline operating out of Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport with plans to expand its reach to the United States and Europe soon.
