Penang success puts strain on Immigration facilities

PENANG'S successful manufacturing, services and tourism sectors are putting a strain on the airport's checkpoints.

December saw the arrival of 259 international flights, which increased to 290 in May.

State exco for tourism Wong Hon Wai recently visited the airport to highlight the need to ease the queues, saying they gave a negative impression of the state.

"There is a 12% growth in international passengers," Wong said.

He said he had received many complaints about the long waiting times at checkpoints. To speed up clearance, Wong asked Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to allow foreigners to use the auto-gate facility as well as the Immigration counters.

"The bottleneck is at the Immigration counters. I have highlighted this in the meeting and informed Saifuddin Nasution when I met him in Sungai Bakap last night."

Wong said the Immigration Department must make sure the checkpoints are fully manned because of the growing number of passenger arrivals.

Peak days for international arrivals are Friday to Sunday, while departures peak on Sunday and Monday.

The Customs and Excise Department has installed three new luggage scanners to expedite clearance, Wong said.

"Our international airport has exceeded its capacity. We need every agency to work together to handle the increase in passengers."

Wong also called for the airport expansion to begin soon.

Tourism has rebounded significantly in Penang, which also plays a key role in the global supply chain for electronics and electrical items. 

The Penang Internation Airport is slated to become the second largest in Malaysia by 2028 with the implementation of a RM1.5 billion expansion plan.

The plan will allow up to 28 aircraft to park at the terminal bays, compared to the current 16, and double the airport's passenger handling capacity from 6.5 million to nearly 13 million.

“The physical work will start in the third quarter of 2024, and the terminal expansion work in the third quarter of 2025 will take 33 months to complete. The targeted completion date is in the second quarter of 2028,” Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd siad.

Completed in 1935, Penang International Airport is one of the oldest in the country.  It experienced peak passenger traffic of 8.3 million in 2019, surpassing its capacity of 6.5 million, which led to calls for its expansion.

In 2022, at the tail end of the Covid-19 pandemic, 4.5 million passengers landed at the airport. Last year, the number rose to nearly seven million. - July 2, 2024.