Penang Airport

Flying Malindo Air from Penang to Subang in May 2015. Check in at counter quick and efficient. Bags dropped. Boarding passes provided. Cleared security in less than 10 minutes. Once airside, the airport is fairly open and bright after the renovation. The old terminal with carpet from 1980s was gone and replaced with stone floor. Much nicer and easy to clean and maintain. Restrooms are not very clean and there are always wet floors. A few over priced shops airside with a few restaurants, really nothing to do but just sit and wait until your flight is called for boarding. I advise that you stay on the landside until you are ready to board since there is not much to do airside. There is a MacDonald's, Old Town Coffee Shop and other local restaurants on the landside. Much nicer and better choice and reasonable prices. All in all, not a bad regional airport but I would not want to spend more than an hour at this airport. It is a lot nicer than what it was just a few years ago.

Low efficiency! I take the Dragonair A330 to go to Penang last summer and I found that was not efficient. It took half hour to transfer my luggage to the belt even at that period there was only one flight arrived. It seems not capable to serve wide-body jet. Also it took me another half hour to pass the security check.

Fast check in hardly any queues. Staff not that friendly could do with smiling. It does not cost much. Landside is poorly laid out not much seating available. Security and passport control quick and efficient. Plenty of seating airside and plenty of shops and food outlets. It is nice clean and bright and a pleasure to have used this airport.

Airport recently renovated currently much more pleasant. But they now have a major problem with noise pollution within the airport itself. Because of materials used the whole airport is extremely noisy especially with the frequent announcements.

Really nice little airport. I saw no evidence of building work mentioned by others so it must be finished or nearly so. Easy check in but a little crowded landside. Best to go airside where there are plenty of seats reasonable snack outlets and a pleasant outlook over the runway. Great place to wait.

Still under renovation. Clearly Malaysia Airports (the federal airport authority) has done an extremely poor job choosing and managing the contractors. Almost everything is in such a bad state - check-in counters immigration bathrooms shops eating outlets etc. - compared to most other airports in Malaysia and in the region. May have been less hassle to passengers to just demolish the old airport building and re-build rather than undertake this kind of renovation.

They are virtually rebuilding Penang Airport which is long overdue however they are doing it without any foresight or planning whatsoever. If you are travelling through Penang airport beware. Food choice is very limited indeed as they have not planned anything to continue to serve the customer. It's OK if you are a McDonalds fan. If you are unfortunate enough to arrive when it is raining (often does in Monsoon season) be prepared to get wet! I arrived from Bangkok and we had to wait 40 minutes to get off the plane as there was no air bridge! Ground staff had to find umbrellas and they could only unload a few passengers at a time as not enough for the whole plane. When it has rained and it is dark beware if you have parked a car you will get wet and encounter so many deep water obstacles you will for sure have wet feet. The whole renovation is purely superficial and takes no account of the travelling public.

Have visited Penang between 29 Jun and 1 Jul - major airport renovation was still underway. With the ongoing renovation please note that toilets are limited and please expect longer queues especially for female toilet. Also there are insufficient seats for passengers waiting to board the plane. I will certainly not visit Penang until the renovation is completed. Have had a terrible experience (almost 40 mins) waiting to clear customs i.e. scan passport + belongings (before collecting luggage) - this was terribly long compared to previous years.

Building works in progress - place was a mess. The route to the lounge was changed (now before security check) but the way was not sign-posted and we were not informed at check-in. Gave feedback to lounge staff but said they had complained to Malaysian Airports Authority to no avail. Lounge space was small and food basic.

Even taking into account the rebuild work the place was dreadful. From the unfinished road outside to the filthy toilets this 'new' terminal is undersized and over crowded already. A/C can't cope airside no gate lounges as such so waiting passengers block access to other gates. Was catching an A320 but it is clear with a larger aircraft it would not cope. Very limited refreshments landside and less airside. Avoid if at all possible and bear in mind this is a 'new' building.