New Hotel in Penang International Airport by end of 2011

Based on the news report, at the end of 2010 Bayan Lepas area of penang Island will have a new hotel.

The expansion of the Penang International Airport will include a privatised project to build a business-class hotel on top of a four-storey carpark, extend the floor space of the terminal to 36,000 sq m, and install a multiple aircraft ramp system.

According to Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) senior airport manager Abdul Wahab Mohd Yusof , MAHB was now inviting tenders for the privatised hotel and carpark project.

“The project is to be located at the existing 600-bay carpark. The job is to build a four-storey carpark with some 2,000 bays and a business-class hotel,” he said.

The project, scheduled for completion at the end of 2011, was not part of the RM250mil airport expansion plan, he said, adding that the design for phases one, two and three of the expansion programme had been finalised and would be tendered soon.

“Phase one of the expansion, costing RM50mil, involves enhancing the security of the airport with new fencing, and establishing a new central utility building to house the air-conditioning and power supply system.

“Phases two and three entail the terminal floor space extension to 36,000 sq m from 27,526 sq m, creating a comfort level of 18 sq m per person, compared with 11.63 sq m per person previously.

Upon completion of the expansion, the terminal will also be able to handle during peak hours about 2,000 passengers an hour, versus 1,291 passengers currently.

The completion of the expansion next year will enable the airport to handle five million passengers per year, from 3.5 million at present.

The Penang airport handled 3.2 million passengers last year.

“The new multiple aircraft ramp system will be able to accommodate 15 narrow-body aircraft and four wide-body aircraft, compared with five narrow-body and six wide-body aircraft now.”

MAHB is reducing parking aprons for wide-body aircraft and increasing those for the narrow-body type as the latter are used by 70% of the planes that land at the Penang airport.

Wahab said that work on phase one should begin soon and was scheduled for completion by the end of the year.