Lim Guan Eng said that the Penang International Airport recorded a monthly average of 582,346 passengers between January and August this year. — Bernama pic

GEORGE TOWN, Sept 26 — Passenger traffic at the Penang International Airport (PIA) has crossed it capacity in August when it recorded 4.6 million people, the state Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said today.

He added that the airport recorded a monthly average of 582,346 passengers between January and August this year.

“There number of passengers movement between January and August is up by 8.4 per cent from 4.2 million to 4.6 million so by the end of this year, it will be more than seven million,” Lim said.

The Penang chief minister has been pleading with Putrajaya to expand the airport to accommodate the increase in tourists flying into the island state.

He reiterated that PIA currently is only built to handle a maximum 6.5 million passengers a year.

“Visitors to Penang will keep increasing and the airport is congested, like a pasar malam,” he said.

The cargo movement in the airport have also seen an increase for the period of January and August as compared to the same period last year.

“It is up by 3.8 per cent from 10.15 million kilogrammes to 10.97 million kilogrammes,” Lim said.

The PIA, like other state airports, are managed by Malaysia Airports Berhad.

The federal government is still mulling the state’s requests, and has not announced any plans to expand PIA.