Penang aims for more direct flight operations

GEORGE TOWN: Penang aims to entice more direct flight operations with the world’s major cities to develop better connectivity for economic growth.

In a statement on Wednesday (State Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin said with the increasing number of travelers returning to the skies, new flight routes would be identified to explore new initiatives where Penang could be connected with other major destinations.

"For the past few years, I have been engaging with various airlines to look for new flight routes in different regions of the world.

"The pandemic made it difficult, but the state government stays optimistic that we can extend our air connectivity to other major destinations,” he said.

With the expansion and upgrading of the Penang International Airport (PIA) by the federal government, Yeoh said that this would be able to cater to over 12 million passenger annually and accommodate the increasing traffic in the next few years.

Moreover, he added that the expansion of PIA would give Penang a competitive position to attract more passengers.

"After the completion of the project in four years, the state government would be able to turn Penang into a better-connected world aviation hub and ensure that the northern part of Malaysia would have access to global markets," he added.

In order to position Penang as one of the vacation capitals of Asia, Yeoh also wants to delve into customer experience at the airport.

"Confidence in the post-pandemic tourism recovery is growing and Chinese travelers are yearning to travel, we should improve on our customer service and figure out how to make people feel better about being in the airport. I, as a passenger myself, value clean facilities wherever I travel," he said.

He urged that the airport operators keep abreast of the latest facilities and services provided by other international airports so that passengers are assured that the safety measures and hygiene are on par with the world standards at all times. - Bernama