Port Blair | Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the new integrated terminal building (NITB) of the Veer Savarkar International Airport at Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Tuesday, officials said.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who reached the airport, unveiled a statue of V D Savarkar on the premises and took a tour of the establishment.

He was accompanied by Union Minister of State for Road, Transport and Highways and Civil Aviation, General (Retd.) V K Singh.

The building is shaped like a shell, depicting the natural environs of the islands.

The entire terminal will have 100 per cent natural lighting for 12 hours a day which will be achieved through skylights on the roof, they said.

Due to a surge in passenger traffic, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) constructed the NITB at an estimated cost of Rs707.73 crores.

With a total built-up area of 40,837 sq metres, the new terminal building will have the capacity to handle 1,200 passengers during peak hours and around 40 lakh passengers annually.

The three-storey building will be equipped with 28 check-in counters, three passenger boarding bridges and four conveyor belts.