Pattachitra at the arrival lounge of the new domestic terminal depicts the maritime tradition of Odisha. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, March 3: Passengers, take note. Announcing the arrival of the city’s new domestic terminal.

The mock announcements of the flight information at the arrival and departure lounges and the displays started today at the new domestic terminal (T1). This was a prelude to the final inauguration set for March 5.

The two-lakh square feet modular giant structure can handle 800 passengers at a time (400 each for arrival and departure).

While nine flights can park at a time, three arrival conveyors have been provided for fast baggage clearance.

Outside the terminal building, there will be parking provision for 400 cars/cabs and 10 luxury coaches in addition to the old parking lot. There will be 18 elevators, four escalators and two aerobridges.

Future-ready

The new domestic terminal building will have four-star rating for its energy-saving strategies, architecture and building plan.

General manager (project), Biju Patnaik Airport, Anil Kumar Pathak hopes that the rating can later be elevated to the five-star status as all electrical equipment have been fitted following Bureau of Energy Efficiency standards.

The new terminal will also have a 100-kilowatt solar power station within six months. This will later be upgraded to 400KW so that the main power demands can be made from the solar station.

Common platform

Passengers will have a hassle-free journey at the new domestic terminal as all the airlines can operate on a platform called common user terminal equipment.

Earlier, passengers had to go to a particular counter of an airline to get their boarding passes. But now, they will be able to use any terminal.

Culture focus

The departure lounge has pattachitra installations depicting kanchi bijay, rath yatra and sankha nabhi kshetra, while the arrival lounge has the pattachitra depiction of the state’s maritime tradition. The two restrooms for VVIPs at both lounges have stone carvings done by Duryodhan Mohapatra.

The pattachitra paintings were done by Tanmay Mohapatra. All art installations were done under the guidance of Dinanath Pathy.

Biju statue

Vice-chairman of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority Vishal Kumar Dev said: “The culture department was supposed to supply a statue of Biju Patnaik for the square. But the statue was only 9-feet high. We need a bigger statue of Biju babu as this will be near the main entry point of the airport. Construction of a new statue will take another six months.’’

Aerobridges

The aerobridges will be fitted to their points once they come from the manufacturers. “The aerobridges will be imported from abroad. We can have them once we get the supply from Delhi,’’ said airport director Sharad Kumar.

Ready to start

Though the official inauguration is scheduled to be on March 5, the actual operation will start within four to five days. Once the operation is shifted from the old terminal, a process will start to convert the earlier one to an international terminal.

Several low-budget carriers have already expressed interest to start their international operations from Bhubaneswar.