Bhubaneswar, Jan 11: The International Air Cargo will resume from the Biju Patnaik International Airport here on the International Customs Day which is celebrated on Jan 27. A joint meeting in the office of the Director, Airport Authority of India (AAI), here was held in this regard. The meeting was presided over by LN Gupta, Principal Secretary, State MSME Department. He has been keeping a follow up on the matter consequent upon requests from various MSME exporters and trade stakeholders. Till now, the AAI has attained concurrence to its Bhubaneswar office to become the custodian of the international air cargo terminal. R Mahalingam, Airport Director, Bhubaneswar, Girish Sharma, Joint General Manager (Cargo), AAI (Eastern Region), Kolkata, Director, Export Promotion and Marketing, BK Das and representatives of different airlines and exporters were also present at the meeting.
Deepak Arora, Commissioner, Customs, Bhubaneswar briefed the media persons saying that public notice is already in place. He also informed that the AAI has marked a hall adjacent to the domestic air cargo terminal for the International Air Cargo terminal.
Various export associations’ representatives such as Seafood, Agro Food Processing Industries, Handloom and Handicrafts exporters, spice exporters etc were present at the meeting. They said that this new medium of dispatching cargo from Biju Patnaik International Airport instead of the current practice of sending cargo by road via Hyderabad or Kolkata will prove to be highly beneficial for the industry and trade. Also, representatives of different airlines like Indigo, Vistara and Air India have been ordered to come up with a schedule at the earliest possible for dispatching cargo to various international destinations in Middle East, Far East, European countries as per the requirements of exporters within 7 days both for the perishable and non-perishable items.
