‘Int’l terminal at airport to be ready by March’

Bhubaneswar: The renovation of the international terminal building and the construction of the building linking the domestic terminal with the international one at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) will be ready by March, officials said on Monday.
While the interior and civil construction works are nearing completion, the immigration and customs enclosures will be ready soon. All mandatory permissions will be obtained before March, the airport authorities here said.
The old domestic terminal building has been converted into international one ever since the international operations started at the airport in July 10, 2015. The BPIA had been accorded international status on October 30, 2013. The city since then had got a new domestic terminal and the old one was used for international operations with some modifications and a makeover to pave way for arrival, departure, immigration and customs.
“The international terminal will be able to handle five lakh passengers per annum. While the link building will be used for international arrival, the old one will be exclusively meant for departures. Work is going on in full-swing to complete it within the set time limit,” BPIA director Prasanna Pradhan said.
The airport’s linking building work had started in February 2019. In 2020, a portion of the under-construction building had collapsed and coupled with the pandemic, the work had got delayed. The state cabinet had accorded approval for operation of direct international flights to three destinations - Dubai, Hong Kong and Bangkok – from BPIA last year on December 27. The connectivity will help link Odisha by air to the east and west.