Bayan Lepas is a suburb of George Town in the Malaysian state of Penang. Located near the southeastern tip of Penang Island, 15 km (9.3 mi) south of the city centre, it is home to the Penang International Airport, the third busiest airport in Malaysia, as well as one of the oldest free industrial zones in the country.
Established sometime in the 19th century, Bayan Lepas had been an agricultural village, with rice production as its mainstay. The British built what is now the Penang International Airport in 1935, but it was only in the 1970s when Bayan Lepas witnessed widescale transformation with the creation of the eponymous free industrial zone.
Today, electronics manufacturing and logistics have replaced agriculture as the major economic sectors at Bayan Lepas, while residential and commercial developments have accelerated, including Queensbay Mall, the largest shopping mall in George Town.
