Union Minister for Civil Aviation Ajit Singh will inaugurate the air cargo complex of Mangalore International Airport on March 18, said J. T. Radhakrishna, director of the airport.
K.C. Venugopal, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, and M. Veerappa Moily, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, will be present at the function to be held in front of the new terminal building (at Kenjar) at 1 p.m.
Mr. Radhakrishna told The Hindu that the complex has a floor area of 14,000 sq. ft. and can handle 100 tonnes of cargo at a given time. He said that there was scope for exporting flowers, spices, rubber, vegetables, packaged food, cashew, dry cargo and marine products from Mangalore region. The director said that marine products could not be exported immediately as it required cold storage facility which was yet to be set up.
Mr. Radhakrishna said that Mr. Singh would also inaugurate common users’ terminal facility at the airport on Monday. Under this facility passengers could check in at any counter for any airlines.
The Union government declared the Customs aerodrome in Mangalore as an international airport during 2012.
The Union Cabinet on last October 4 declared Mangalore as an international airport, the government notified the same on October 22. The airport was formally declared international six years after it began international operations to some of the West Asian countries.
