When travelling abroad from a smaller city, you usually have to change flights at a bigger city airport and repeat some formalities. However, the Government has introduced a hub-and-spoke model for international travel that will make the transition smoother for passengers. In this article, we will understand what a hub-and-spoke model is and how it will help passengers during their international travel.
Need for a hub-and-spoke model
When travelling abroad from a Tier-II or Tier-III city, you usually have to first take a flight to a metro or a bigger city. On landing, you have to collect your baggage and proceed to the international terminal from where you take the next flight abroad. You need to collect your second boarding pass, re-check your baggage, and complete customs and international immigration formalities. All of this requires time and effort from passengers. The hub-and-spoke model will solve this and make international travel that involves transiting through an airport faster, more efficient, and simplified for passengers.
What is the hub-and-spoke model?
The hub-and-spoke model is a coordinated structure that allows passengers from non-metro cities to connect efficiently to multiple international destinations through a single hub, with optimised schedules and a smooth transit experience.
On 25th June 2026, Air India commenced the ‘Easy Connect’ flights under the Government of India’s hub-and-spoke model. For now, operations have commenced from Varanasi airport (spoke), by connecting it to Delhi airport (hub), and onwards to the international destination.
Under the hub-and-spoke model, a passenger can check-in at their home airport (spoke city), all the way through to their final international destination. So, there will be no need to collect the baggage at the hub city airport and re-check it for their onward journey to the international destination. The baggage will be transferred seamlessly through airside operations at the hub city airport, without any need for passenger intervention.
Passengers will be able to complete international immigration and customs formalities also at their home airport (spoke city) instead of the transit airport (hub city). At the transit airport (hub city), the passenger will arrive as an international transit passenger and can proceed directly to their next flight to the international destination. Thus, the hub-and-spoke model will make international travel originating from a spoke city smoother for passengers.
The flight from spoke city to the hub city will carry domestic passengers travelling to the hub city and international transit passengers travelling abroad. At the spoke city, the domestic passengers travelling to the hub city will be issued a boarding pass, clearly marked with ‘D’ (domestic) indicator. Similarly, international transit passengers will be issued a boarding pass, clearly marked with ‘I’ (international) indicator.
Air India launches Easy Connect flights
Air India is the first to launch the hub-and-spoke program with its Easy Connect flights. Under this program, the Delhi Airport will serve as a hub for various international destinations. Passengers from spoke cities like Varanasi can travel to Delhi and onwards to 17 international destinations. These include London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Milan, Rome, Zurich, Manila, Singapore, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur, Riyadh, and Dubai, among others. The international flight from the hub airport must be within 4 hours of arrival at the hub airport.
In a phased manner, like Varanasi, more spoke cities will be connected to hubs like Delhi. Similarly, in the future, major cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, etc., will be developed as hubs. On 25th June 2026, while inaugurating the first flight under the hub-and-spoke model from Varanasi Airport, the Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu said that 6 more destinations will be added to the model over the next 6 weeks.
What should passengers know?
Indian Passport holders taking flights through the hub-and-spoke model must enroll on the DigiYatra App and upload their boarding pass. At present, web check-in is not available from the spoke city airports.
Baggage check-in, boarding pass issuance, customs and immigration formalities will all be done at the spoke city airport. Hence, passengers will need to reach the airport at least 3 hours before departure.
The customs declaration facilities are not available at the spoke city airports. So, if you are carrying high-value or dutiable goods that require a declaration, you will not be able to do so at the spoke city airport.
If the passenger’s onward journey to an international destination exceeds 4 hours from the time of arrival at the hub airport, the hub-and-spoke model SOPs will not apply. In such a scenario, the passenger will have to follow the standard procedure at the hub airport: collect baggage, recheck it, collect the second boarding pass, complete customs and immigration procedures, etc.
As of now, the hub-and-spoke operations have commenced for outbound flights. For inbound passengers, once operations launch, customs and immigration processing will be completed at the final destination in India, which is the spoke city.
Government’s vision
According to Government data, at present, nearly 35% of international passengers travelling from India transit through foreign hubs such as Dubai, London and Singapore. The Government aims to reverse this trend by developing globally competitive hubs in India, such as Delhi.
In addition to passenger facilitation, the strategy places strong emphasis on strengthening India’s position as a global air cargo hub. The Government wants to transform India into an aviation hub of choice for Indian passengers by 2030 and for the world by 2047, and the hub-and-spoke model is a step in that direction.
Over the years, the Government has developed many airports in Tier II and Tier III cities under the UDAN Scheme. Now, these smaller airports will be developed as spoke airports within the hub-and-spoke model. For passengers from smaller towns, the model will ensure seamless connectivity to hub airports and from there to international destinations. While passengers will benefit from reduced travel time, the model will ensure optimal utilisation of the aviation infrastructure already developed across the country.
The hub-and-spoke model is set to bring huge economic benefits. By 2047, the initiative is expected to generate approximately 16 million direct and indirect jobs and contribute nearly $1.3 trillion to the Indian economy. The model will contribute towards decongesting major airports by decentralising customs and immigration processes to spoke cities. The improved international connectivity is expected to facilitate trade, tourism, investment, and regional economic development.
