India to add six more cities to hub-and-spoke air connectivity model in next six weeks

India will add six more destinations to its new hub-and-spoke aviation model over the next six weeks, Civil Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu said on Thursday as he launched the first service under the initiative from Varanasi. The programme is aimed at improving international connectivity from tier-2 and tier-3 cities through major airport hubs.

The first hub-and-spoke flight, operated with Air India, connects Varanasi to international destinations through New Delhi. Under the model, passengers can complete immigration formalities at their origin airport and travel onward through a hub airport without repeating the process.

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Varanasi first city under new model

Calling it an important day for Indian civil aviation, Naidu said the country now has the infrastructure and systems needed to support hub-and-spoke operations.

“This is a very important day for Indian civil aviation because there are high expectations for hub-and-spoke operations in the country. Some are going to Dubai, some to Singapore and other places, and from there they have transit connectivity to the rest of the world. We have the capacity, and we have the infrastructure, we have everything ready,” he said.

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The minister said standard operating procedures and systems have been finalised and all stakeholders have been brought on board.

“All the SOPs and systems are now finalised; all stakeholders have been brought together. And the first operation is going to start from Varanasi today. I have come to personally oversee the operations and see how it is going. So, in the next 6 weeks, we will see 6 new destinations added to this model. Now, if someone is travelling from Varanasi, they can simply do immigration here and go to Delhi. The aim is to open all airports under this model,” he added.