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✈️ Flights

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Fun-fact: Penang is actually a whole state, but colloquially Penang is used to refer to Penang Island, including George Town, the capital of the state and the second largest metropolitan area in Malaysia, after Kuala Lumpur (KL).

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Skyscanner (or Google Flights, or Kiwi.com, no commission here) is of course your friend but here’s some info for those of you who want to make sure you’re on the right track or who maybe just want an overview!

For those of you travelling from London…

You’ve got a few options for getting to/from Penang, all will require a single stop-off to either transit or explore another city on the way there or back, for example to get to Penang you could:

  1. Fly to KL (KUL), transit/stop-over and take an onward flight to Penang (PEN)

    1. London Heathrow (LHR) → KUL: Malaysia Airlines or British Airways

    2. KUL → PEN: Malaysia Airlines (also a BA codeshare)

      If you’re stopping over, there are also budget airline options in the form of AirAsia, or Firefly and BatikAir that fly from the domestic-focussed Kuala Lumpur Sultan Abdul Azziz Shah Airport (SZB).

  2. Fly to Singapore (SIN), transit/stop-over and take an onward flight to Penang (PEN)

    1. LHR/LGW → SIN: Singapore Airlines
    2. SIN → PEN: Singapore Airlines, Scoot (if stopping over: also JetStar, or AirAsia)

  3. Fly to Bangkok (BKK), transit/stop-over and take an onward flight to Penang (PEN)

    1. LHR → BKK: Thai Airways
    2. BKK → PEN: Thai Airways (if stopping over: also Firefly)

  4. Fly to Dubai (DXB), transit/stop-over and take an onward flight to

    1. LGW/STN → DXB: Emirates
    2. DXB → PEN: Emirates

Of course if you wanted you could combine some of these options to see Dubai, Singapore and Penang, all in one direction, or split it with the way back; there are many options. However, it’s worth being aware that one-way flights are typically more expensive when booked separately compared to multi-leg trips in a single booking or a simple return flight. Skyscanner is of course your friend here.

For those of you travelling from Canada or USA…

There are unfortunately no direct flights to Malaysia so a single transit/stop-over in KL won’t be an option unless you are happy with an extra stop.

The typical transit locations from the USA and Canada for Penang (PEN) are Singapore (SIN), Hong Kong (HKG) and Doha (DOH) through airlines such as Air Canada, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and Qatar.