About the place
According to urban legend, the town was founded in the late 19th century by a family from Sumatra whose pet parakeet escaped. The Penang International Airport was opened in 1935, the first civilian airport to be built in British Malaya. For much of the town's history, it was an agricultural area, with rice farming a major source of income. It was only in the 1970s, with the creation of the Free Industrial Zone, when Bayan Lepas began to develop.