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FOREIGN passengers flying directly to the Penang International Airport for the first time need to be processed manually at the immigration checkpoints.
This is because the newly installed auto-gates for foreign travellers are only reserved for those who have visited the country before.
State exco for tourism, Wong Hon Wai, revealed this, but stressed that the installation of auto-gates, nonetheless, will help clear the congestion at the international arrival halls.
Last week, hundreds of foreign passengers from direct flights, namely China, were forced to wait up to three hours to clear the immigration checkpoint due to congestion.
The authorities had blamed it on the combination of too many direct flights arriving at the same time, causing a backlog to ensue, and limited immigration counters.
The airport is currently undergoing a major upgrading exercise, with the full completion only slated for next year.
Wong, who is instrumental in bringing in many new direct flights to Penang from mainly China and India, visited the airport recently.
He chaired an inter-departmental meeting between Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB), AKPS (Border Control and Protection Agency), and the digital implementation teams.
He shared the updates via social media, stating that there is now pilot testing of the new auto-gates for returning foreign travellers.
"We have invited over 100 passengers waiting in the queue from Singapore, Australia, the USA, the UK and France to test the new auto-gates. So far so good. Many of them were cleared within a short time. Some of them did not go through."
They have to approach the traditional immigration counters/check point, as this is their first visit to Malaysia.
"The auto-gates are only for those arriving in Malaysia more than once. First-timers have to go through the manual counters for the system to capture their biometric information," said Wong.
Children and wheelchair users have to undergo the manual counters as the camera position for the auto-gate is mainly for able-bodied adults.
There will be another round of User Acceptance Tests, and if it is certified and passed, then the new auto-gates can be opened for passengers from 63 countries, he said. - February 10, 2026.