Amritsar: Amritsar has emerged as the second city in India to be integrated into the Centre’s ambitious hub-and-spoke international aviation network, with the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Tuesday launching Air India’s Easy Connect service from the Punjab city. The move is expected to significantly enhance global connectivity for North India by enabling seamless international travel through Delhi without repeated airport formalities.
The launch marks the second phase of the government’s hub-and-spoke strategy after the successful rollout from Varanasi on June 25. Under the plan, the Centre aims to establish four major hub airports and 40 spoke airports across the country, while also introducing inbound Easy Connect services for international passengers arriving in India.
Officials in the Ministry of Civil Aviation told The Sunday Guardian that Amritsar has become the second spoke airport in the national network, with Delhi serving as the primary hub. They added that Ahmedabad will be the next city to join the network within the next seven to ten days, while additional spoke airports are being integrated in a phased manner.
The initiative has been introduced through Air India’s Easy Connect service, which is designed to eliminate the inconvenience of repeated baggage collection, terminal changes and check-in procedures for passengers travelling from Tier-II and Tier-III cities to international destinations.
Under the new system, passengers departing from Amritsar can complete through check-in, receive a single boarding process and have their baggage tagged directly to their final international destination. After arriving in Delhi, they can seamlessly transfer to their onward international flights without collecting baggage or changing terminals.
Notably, Air India has introduced two daily flights under the programme—AI1113 departing Amritsar at 9:10 am and AI1115 departing at 10:00 pm—providing onward connectivity through Delhi to 27 international destinations across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, West Asia and Southeast Asia.
Officials said Amritsar was selected because of its strategic importance as North India’s gateway, serving Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Besides being home to one of the world’s largest Punjabi diaspora communities, the city attracts millions of pilgrims visiting the Golden Temple and has a strong industrial base in textiles, handloom and food processing.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu said Amritsar is expected to be the biggest beneficiary of the hub-and-spoke model due to its large NRI population, religious tourism centred around the Golden Temple, and strong industrial base. While the city currently has direct flights to seven international destinations, passengers will now gain seamless access to nearly 20 more global destinations via Delhi with a single check-in and baggage tag.
Naidu said the initiative is expected to increase Amritsar’s annual international passenger traffic from around 3 lakh to nearly 4.5 lakh. Calling it an “opportunity model”, he said the scheme would strengthen North India’s global connectivity, boost tourism, trade, hospitality and logistics, and support India’s emergence as a major international aviation hub. He added that the strategy is projected to generate around four lakh jobs and USD 30 billion in economic activity by 2030.
Highlighting the government’s aviation expansion, the minister said India’s operational airports have increased from 74 in 2014 to 167 today, with another 100 airports and 200 heliports planned over the next decade. In Punjab, the number of airports has risen from two to seven since 2014, reflecting the Centre’s focus on improving regional connectivity.
Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha told The Sunday Guardian that the government plans to rapidly expand the network to additional airports across the country.
“We will extend these facilities to more airports soon. The hub-and-spoke model is a major step towards improving international connectivity. It also addresses baggage-related issues that international passengers generally face during travel. Within the next 45 days, we will also launch inbound Easy Connect facilities,” Sinha said.
He said the ministry aims to establish four hub airports and 40 spoke airports nationwide while continuously evaluating passenger response to the service launched from Varanasi. He added that airlines have placed substantial aircraft orders, which would further strengthen the hub-and-spoke network and improve connectivity for airports that currently lack direct international services.
Air India officials told the publication that the launch of Easy Connect services from Amritsar marks another key milestone in the phased rollout of India’s International Aviation Hub Strategy. They said more spoke airports will be added in phases to build a nationwide seamless international connectivity network through Indian hub airports. The airline also announced that inbound Easy Connect services will soon begin, enabling hassle-free international-to-domestic transfers via Delhi for passengers travelling to Amritsar. The service will subsequently be expanded to Ahmedabad, Goa and Kochi as part of the government’s Viksit Bharat 2047 vision to create a more connected and globally competitive aviation ecosystem.
