THE Penang government is waiting for a tripartite meeting on the Kulim Airport (KXP) proposal with the Kedah government and the Transport Ministry.

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the state government had used all avenues to raise its concerns over KXP.

He said whenever he had the chance, he also raised it at federal-level meetings, such as the meeting for Menteri Besar and Chief Ministers, which was chaired by the prime minister, on February 26 this year.

“During the meeting, how the proposal to build KXP would negatively impact the Penang International Airport (PIA) in Bayan Lepas was discussed. The meeting took note of the matter.

“The meeting agreed that the Transport Ministry must immediately discuss with Kedah and Penang on the negative impact KXP will have on PIA.

“It was also discussed how PIA is operating above its capacity and needs to be expanded urgently,” he told a press conference at his Komtar office today.

Chow said Penang was still waiting for the tripartite meeting to be called by the Transport Ministry.

“We have used all the platforms available to us to raise our concerns. We now leave it to the ministry to follow up and do the necessary,” he said.

During the Penang assembly sitting, the KXP project was among the most discussed topics.

Chow informed the House that consultants have found that KXP will negatively affect PIA as a competitor for business.

Last Monday, former chief minister Lim Guan Eng, who is finance minister and Air Putih assemblyman, told the House that there was no reason to block the KXP development as it will be funded by the private sector.

This morning, Lim reiterated that Putrajaya has no reason to oppose the privately-funded KXP while assuring Penang that PIA will be expanded to increase its capacity and will not be closed.

In his press conference today, Chow also announced that the busy PIA has recorded double-digit growth for the first quarter of the year, again.

From January to March this year, PIA recorded 451,421 arrivals compared to 407,050 during the corresponding period of last year – a 10.9% increase.

The departure and arrival figures for PIA during the same period also show a 9.14% increase from 1.84 million to 2.01 million.

Penang Global Tourism general manager Ooi Chok Yan said the growing numbers were due to the increase in direct flights to Penang from overseas and other Malaysian destinations.

He said several airlines had introduced new direct flights to and from Penang last year.

New international direct flights introduced last year included Doha, Banda Aceh, Jakarta, Surabaya, Hanoi, Phuket and Nanning.

This year, PIA adds two new domestic direct flights to Kuantan and Malacca. Qatar Airways’ Doha-Penang flights will also be increased from four to five a week beginning October.

Currently, PIA handles 290 international and 431 domestic weekly flights. – May 6, 2019.