The Penang chief minister said based on the growth rate of 8.71% for the first five months of 2017, the proposed capacity for 10 million passengers, which is projected to last until 2025, would be exceeded before 2023.
In a statement today, he said PIA had already exceeded its present capacity of 6.5 million passengers, recording 6.7 million passengers last year – four years ahead of the scheduled 2020.
“It took PIA just seven years to double its passenger load to more than 6.5 million passengers,” he said, adding that passenger capacity was expected to exceed seven million by the end of the year.
“Why expand PIA from 6.5 million passengers to only 10 million passengers, when you would need to do so again in seven years’ time?”
He was responding to a written reply from the government to his parliamentary question on July 31 concerning passenger movement at the country’s airports and the proposed expansion of PIA.
On July 27, the Bagan MP said the airport ran the risk of turning into a “pasar malam” if no expansion project was undertaken.
The PIA was last upgraded in 2012 for a capacity of 6.5 million passengers that was projected to last until 2020.
The PIA is the second busiest airport in the country after the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, with Kota Kinabalu International Airport taking third place.
In his statement, Lim called for the PIA to be doubled in size with a capacity that exceeds 13 million passengers, taking into account the strong growth rate driven by high tourist numbers.
Pointing out that Penang had always been a favoured tourist destination, he said it had also strengthened its position in medical tourism, with Island Hospital Group investing RM2 billion in what will be the largest private hospital in Malaysia.
He said failure to expand the airport to cater to the influx of tourists would be a “major” and “unforgivable” economic blunder.
LGE to Putrajaya: Please don’t allow Penang airport to become ‘pasar malam’