GEORGE TOWN, Jun 29 – Penang has announced that passenger movement at Penang International Airport (PIA) in Bayan Lepas has currently reached 3,075,643 from January to May 2018.
Penang Tourism Development, Heritage, Culture and Arts Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin said this was an increase of 5.77% in comparison to last year’s passenger traffic for the same period.
According to Yeoh, there were 1.5 million passenger arrivals which consist 680,000 international arrivals and about 840,000 from domestic flights. “International arrivals recorded an increase of 15.39% as compared to the same period last year, while domestic arrivals registered only 0.26% increase,” he said.
Yeoh noted that PIA is currently nearing its maximum capacity of 6.5 million passengers and expansion plans should not be delayed any further as more direct flights would be added in the near future.
“On July 1, there will be two inaugural direct flights to Penang, one from Hanoi and another from Phuket,” he added. He also said that he would further negotiate with several airlines for even more direct flights to Penang. — Bernama
