Arrivals At Penang Airport To Hit Over 6 Million This Year

17th Sep 2014

​Penang may be the second smallest state in Malaysia but its popularity among foreign travelers is quite impressive based on the number of international air traffic movement at the Penang International Airport.

The airport is located on the southern tip of the 293-square kilometer island. It is the third busiest airport in the country after Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Kota Kinabalu International Airport.

During the last four years, Penang International Airport has posted a 65% traffic growth, thanks in large part to the growing demand in air travel due to the proliferation of budget carriers led by AirAsia.

Penang state is composed of an island, also called Penang and the peninsular Seberang Perai across the narrow arm of the Straits of Malacca. George Town, located on the Penang island, is the state capital and forms part of the metropolitan area along with the towns and cities in the mainland.

The conurbation of Penang, called George Town Conurbation, is the country's second most populous metropolitan center after Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley.

The island hosts world-class beaches which have been a magnet for both local and international tourists alike.

Though Penang International Airport is third busiest in terms of passenger traffic behind Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Kota Kinabalu International Airport, it handles the second highest international passenger traffic after KLIA, the country's main gateway.

In 2013 alone, it registered over 2.42 million international passengers. With the current passenger growth  during the first quarter of this year, the airport is projected to handle a total of over 6 million passengers for 2014, slightly above its designed capacity of 5 million.

Kuala Lumpur is the busiest route overall from Penang while Singapore is the busiest international route. There are over 300 departures each week with more than 35,000 seats available per direction between Penang and the national capital.

The airport is expected to breach the 6 million mark in passenger traffic this year as seven airlines operating from the airport launched new services between the last quarter of 2013 and September this year.

Overall, the AirAsia group offers a combined 42% of the total seat capacity handled at the airport while the Malaysia Airlines group take up the 25% while the remaining 13% was shared by other operators, the bulk of which was provided by Malindo Air, a subsidiary of Indoensia's Lion Air.