Bhubaneswar airport to kickstart intl cargo ops soon

Bhubaneswar: After nine months of launching domestic cargo operations in April 2016 at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here, the State government is hopeful to get necessary approval from authorities at the Centre to start global cargo operations from the city airport.

Sources said once the city airport gets nod from the Customs department of the Ministry of Finance, international cargo operations will kick start from January. All necessary preparations have been made for the international cargo operations from the Biju Patnaik International Airport, the sources added.

Laxmi Narayan Gupta, Principal Secretary of MSME department, said, “Everyone wants the international cargo operations to start from here as quickly as possible.”

The start of international cargo operations are likely to attract global airlines to fly from the Bhubaneswar airport, the sources said.

Also read: Bhubaneswar Airport to be fully functional by 2nd quarter of 2018

Ramaswamy Mahalingam, director of the Biju Patnaik International Airport, said, “Initially the international cargo operations will work from the domestic cargo hub.”

The sources added more than 5,000 tonnes of commodities and parcels have been sent through the domestic cargo operations from the city airport since April 2016.