Indian travellers heading abroad may soon be able to skip those long, tiring layovers in Dubai, London or Singapore. The central government has finally put its 'hub and spoke' aviation model into action, aiming to make India's aviation sector globally competitive and to link smaller cities directly with world markets. The rollout began from Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Marking the occasion, PM Modi said the initiative would bring India's far-flung regions closer to global opportunities.
The thinking behind the model is straightforward, to encourage domestic flyers to use India's own big airports as global aviation hubs rather than transiting through foreign ones.
Why the change was needed
The numbers tell the story. Of the roughly 2.5 crore international long-haul passengers flying from India every year, 85 percent, or about 1.7 crore, route their journeys through foreign hubs instead of Indian airports. On top of that, around 35 percent of international passengers catch their connecting flights via cities like Dubai, London and Singapore.
The government wants to flip this trend. The goal is to turn metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai into major aviation hubs of the world. According to Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha, the model will not only benefit smaller cities but also open up new employment opportunities.
How the 'Easy Connect' service works
Under the new system, passengers will be handed two separate boarding passes right at a 'spoke' airport like Varanasi, clearly marked with 'D' (domestic) and 'I' (international). The biggest relief is that all customs and immigration formalities for outbound passengers will be completed at their first departure point, Varanasi itself. That means they will not have to stand in long queues again at a 'hub' airport such as Delhi.
A passenger's baggage will also be moved directly onto the international flight through airside operations at the hub airport. In other words, there is no longer any need to collect and re-check bags during the transit. For passengers arriving in India, the same process runs in reverse, with customs and immigration cleared at their final destination, the spoke airport.
Cities that will get the service soon
The first flight, departing Varanasi at 9:30 am and landing in Delhi at 10:50 am, connected passengers onward to nine international destinations including Dubai, Colombo, Jeddah and Phuket. Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said that in the coming months the 'Easy Connect' service will be expanded to cities such as Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Goa, Hyderabad, Chennai, Patna, Vadodara and Visakhapatnam.
Aviation Minister Naidu also made it clear that besides Air India, IndiGo will soon begin operating flights under this 'hub and spoke' model, which will boost both competition and passenger convenience in the Indian aviation market.
