Air India has opened bookings for its first flights under the Government’s hub-and-spoke model, introducing these as ‘Easy Connect’ flights, and enabling travellers from cities beyond major hubs to drop baggage and complete immigration at origin airport.
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Air India’s new Easy Connect flights will commence from Varanasi on 25th June. Air India will be driving a phased rollout of Easy Connect flights across multiple cities in the months ahead to operationalise seamless international connectivity from India’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities at scale.
Hub-and-spoke flights
Under the hub-and-spoke model, ‘spoke’ cities such as Varanasi are connected to major ‘hub’ airports like Delhi, from where passengers can seamlessly access Air India’s extensive global network. This coordinated structure 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.
At the heart of the model, designed and implemented by Air India in close coordination with industry stakeholders, is a significantly simplified and more intuitive international travel experience:
Through check-in to final destination: Travellers from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities such as Varanasi can check in at their home airport all the way through to their final international destination, with no need to collect or re-check baggage at the hub airport (e.g. Delhi).
Immigration at origin: Travellers will complete international immigration formalities at their originating airport, avoiding queues and processing at the hub.
Seamless international transit via ‘hub’ airport: Passengers will transit through hub airports like Delhi as international travellers, making connections faster and more efficient.
Importantly, travellers also benefit from a familiar and comfortable transit environment within India, avoiding the complexity and unfamiliarity usually associated with transiting through foreign hub airports.
Flights from Varanasi to the world
The designated Easy Connect flight from Varanasi to Delhi will operate daily as AI1111. Within 4 hours of arrival at Delhi, the flight is timed to provide seamless connections to 17 international destinations, including London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Milan, Rome, Zurich, Manila, Singapore, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur, Riyadh, and Dubai, among others.
Subsequent Easy Connect flights with hub-and-spoke operations from other ‘spoke’ airports will be numbered in the ‘AI11XX’ series, creating a distinct network identity for these services.
The rollout will expand to several additional cities in a phased manner over the coming months, as Air India continues to anchor and lead the implementation of this model.
