The Odisha Government has urged the Centre to declare the Biju Patnaik Airport here as an international airport in view of the requisite infrastructure facilities available in the state capital.

“You may use your good office to ask airline operators to operate international flights out of/through the Biju Patnaik Airport, Bhubaneswar,” the Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, said in a letter to the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Ajit Singh.

Reminding Mr Singh of the meeting they had held on March 9, Mr Patnaik said: “You had also offered to explore the possibility of connecting Bhubaneswar to Middle-East, South Asian and Sooth East Asian countries.”

Stating that the construction of new domestic terminal building complex at Biju Patnaik Airport is nearing completion and is likely to be ready in a month or two, the Chief Minister said the new terminal building can exclusively handle the domestic flights.

The existing terminal building with suitable modification for handling immigration, custom check can handle international flights, he said.