Biju Patnaik Airport in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 3: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is going to conduct a survey on the cargo infrastructure facilities at the city airport following proposals for international flight operations.

With the Odisha government demanding international flight operations from the Biju Patnaik Airport by March 2013 and the AAI is hoping for completion of construction of the new domestic terminal by that time, the airport director has requested the AAI to go for the survey.

In fact, it is being planned that after commissioning of the new domestic terminal, the present terminal building will be used for international operations.

Airport director Sharad Kumar said: “The survey will look at the export potential of the highly-perishable frozen seafood from Odisha. Members of the Seafood Exporters’ Association of India (Odisha chapter) said they had exported 21,000 tonnes of sea food, worth Rs 800 crores, during 2011-12 through sea route.

The association’s Odisha chapter vice-president Aditya Dash said: “We have already held discussions with the AAI officials. We hope to generate a business of around Rs 50 crore in the first year of international operations.”

At present, crabs from Chilika are sent to Singapore via Chennai as the product has a huge demand there. Similarly, prawn from Chilika and other parts of Odisha are also exported to foreign countries on sea-route via Paradip.

“If international air cargo starts operating from the Bhubaneswar airport, frozen food items can easily be taken to Singapore and Dubai through air routes,’’ said Dash.

The cargo movement at the city airport was 1,287 tonne in 2008-09, 2,000 tonne in 2009-10, 2,600 tonne in 2010-11 and 3,400 tonne in 2011-12.