Amritsar Gets Hub & Spoke Flights: One Check-In Abroad

If you fly out of Amritsar and have been dreading a layover in Delhi where you have to reclaim bags, clear security again and recheck in for your onward international flight, that hassle just got smaller. On July 28, 2026, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, led by Civil Aviation Minister K. Rama Mohan Naidu, launched Hub and Spoke international flight operations at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport in Amritsar, making it the second airport in the country to join this framework after Varanasi. The basic idea is simple, even if the aviation terminology sounds bureaucratic. Delhi acts as the hub, and Amritsar is now a spoke feeding into it. If you're flying out of Amritsar to an international destination that doesn't have a direct flight from Punjab, you can now complete check-in, immigration and customs formalities right there in Amritsar before you ever board. Your baggage gets a single through-tag straight to your final international destination, so when you land in Delhi to change planes, you walk to your connecting gate instead of collecting bags, clearing immigration again and rechecking in. Air India is operating these flights under the brand name Easy Connect, and outbound service from Amritsar began the same day as the launch. What this actually buys travelers is a big jump in reach. Amritsar previously had direct international flights to only seven destinations. Through the Delhi hub connection, passengers can now reach more than 20 international destinations using that single check-in and single baggage tag, according to the Ministry's announcement. That's a meaningful change for anyone in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir or Himachal Pradesh who currently drives or takes a connecting domestic flight to Delhi just to start an international trip from scratch there. There's an important asymmetry worth knowing before you book, though. The outbound side, flying from Amritsar to international destinations via Delhi, is live now. Inbound service, where passengers arriving in India get to clear immigration and collect baggage at Amritsar rather than at Delhi, is expected to start within about two months, so roughly by late September 2026. Until that inbound piece switches on, travelers arriving in India from abroad and connecting onward to Amritsar will still go through the older process at Delhi. One official described how the inbound leg will work once it launches: passengers change aircraft at Delhi onto a dedicated flight carrying only Hub and Spoke passengers, then complete immigration and baggage collection once they land in Amritsar, treating Amritsar as their actual port of entry rather than Delhi. Amritsar won't be alone for long. The Civil Aviation Secretary, Samir Kumar Sinha, said the government's broader plan calls for four hub airports and forty spoke airports nationwide, forty-four airports in total, and that outbound Easy Connect service is coming to Ahmedabad, Goa and Kochi in the coming weeks. Officials are projecting Amritsar alone could see around 250 daily passengers using this route initially, growing toward 1,200 daily, or roughly 4.5 lakh a year, as more spoke airports come online and connections multiply. The larger strategic goal, per the Ministry, is to capture some of the estimated 20 million Indian connecting passengers who currently transit through overseas hubs like Dubai, Doha or Singapore, and route more of that traffic, and the associated spending, through Indian airports instead. So what should you actually do with this if you're booking a trip? If you're departing from Amritsar for one of the newly connected international destinations, you can now book that itinerary through Air India with the expectation of a single check-in and no baggage recheck in Delhi, which should meaningfully shorten your connection time and stress level, especially useful if your layover window is tight. Ask specifically for an Easy Connect or Hub and Spoke itinerary when booking or through your travel agent to make sure you're ticketed correctly for the through-check process rather than a standard separate-leg booking. If you're flying into India and connecting onward to Amritsar, don't expect the streamlined inbound process yet; budget time for a normal immigration and baggage process at Delhi until the inbound leg activates, likely around September 2026, and it's worth checking back closer to your travel date since these rollout timelines can shift. And if you fly regularly out of Ahmedabad, Goa or Kochi, watch for Easy Connect service arriving at your airport too, since the government's forty-four-airport plan suggests this is the start of a broader rollout rather than a one-off for Amritsar. Sources MoCA Launches Hub & Spoke Flight Model at Amritsar Airport - Deccan Chronicle - https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/moca-launches-hub-spoke-flight-model-at-amritsar-airport-to-boost-seamless-global-travel-1974647 Govt Plans 44 Airports For Hub And Spoke Flights To Boost Connectivity - ETV Bharat - https://www.etvbharat.com/en/bharat/govt-plans-several-airports-for-hub-and-spoke-flights-air-india-to-soon-start-inbound-international-flights-to-amritsar-enn26072801491 Amritsar becomes 2nd hub and spoke airport with access to over 20 international destinations - Prokerala - https://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a1793315.html Amritsar Becomes Second Airport Under India's Hub & Spoke International Flight Model - Rozana Spokesman - http://www.rozanaspokesman.com/news/nation/280726/amritsar-becomes-second-airport-under-indias-hub-spoke-internationa.html