Penang Airport

✅ Verified Review | Arrival was a breeze, bit tight as arrivals and departures are on the same floor. Baggage was fast and the taxi stand easy to find, you pre-pay and are told where to wait. Departure - long line ups so get here early. There is KFC and MacDonalds prior to security. Less choices after security although the Starbucks was good for an ice chocolate drink (snacks were available here too). The toilets were clean and my husband was happy with a smoking area. Got a great view of the runway from inside the terminal, It looks to be an old airport but works well and is definitely much better than I expected.

✅ Verified Review | Arrival was a breeze, bit tight as arrivals and departures are on the same floor. Baggage was fast and the taxi stand easy to find, you pre-pay and are told where to wait. Departure - long line ups so get here early. There is KFC and MacDonalds prior to security. Less choices after security although the Starbucks was good for an ice chocolate drink (snacks were available here too). The toilets were clean and my husband was happy with a smoking area. Got a great view of the runway from inside the terminal, It looks to be an old airport but works well and is definitely much better than I expected.

❎ Unverified | Penang airport is pure horrible. Very small, not many eateries and shopping inside and outside of the departure hall and seems old and outdated. Toilets at the arrival hall smell really bad, but the one inside the departure hall was better. Immigration staffs didn't look very interested. Most of the planes land and disembarked travellers through the overhead walkway. However, some planes such as AirAsia, use the stairs and ask travellers to walk on the airstrip. If it's raining, you have to wait for the rain to stop or wait for the staff to transport passengers slowly using umbrellas. Food options were very limited, and weren't very appetising either. They placed 3 flights worth of passengers into one small boarding gate waiting area, which caused much confusion as the screen showed Ho Chi Minh City when the plane was actually bound for Singapore. Staff didn't announce it properly too. The free wifi was pure horrible, couldn't access anything.

Penang Airport smoking room near gate B7 seems to be continuously spewing bad air into the surrounding area. This should be fixed immediately as too many people especially young kids and senior folks are breathing in second hand smoke. I already feel less healthy after sitting here for 20 minutes.

✅ Verified Review | My first time to Penang. It is small airport. Easy to find fast food and prices reasonable. Boarding room quite clean but not comfortable. Trasnport to city just 2 options - bus or taxi. Be careful if your flight is between morning and noon ans everything is jammed near the airport.

Flew into Penang from Singapore on Silk Air and left on Malaysian Airlines to KL. Arrival process was quick with no delays at immigration. By the time I arrived to pick up the bags they were already there. Had planned on changing money upon arrival but very poor rate of exchange at the airport. Did not change any money and was able to pay for taxi voucher with credit card. Check in for the flight to KL was quick and no delay through security. Was flying in Business so went straight to the Golden Lounge which was OK. Flight was due to depart at 10.35am and as we went to leave the lounge was told there was a delay with the flight. It turned out that the flight had not arrived but the screens were showing ready to board. The incoming flight was delayed by about an hour. Overall a serviceable airport that does the job.

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.