Varanasi, 25 June 2026:
Air India has inaugured its first ‘Easy Connect’ flight under the Government of India’s new hub-and-spoke framework, launching the transformative model aimed at linking the length and breadth of India seamlessly with the world, and vice versa.
The inaugural Easy Connect service, flight AI1111,departed Varanasi at 09:23 AM today, with international passengers on the flight connecting onward from Delhi to 9 destinations outside of India, such as Dubai, Colombo, Jeddah, Riyadh, Kathmandu, Phuket.
Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, Minister of Civil Aviation, Govt. of India, inaugurated the first ‘Easy Connect’ flight from Varanasi’s Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport. At the occasion, he said, “Today we take a major step forward towards realising our vision of making air travel more accessible and building a future-ready, self-reliant Indian aviation industry that is efficient, inclusive, and globally competitive. Our new hub-and-spoke model paves the way for a monumental shift in how our citizens travel – where regardless of the city one lives in India, one can begin their international journey from their home city and travel across the globe with ease and confidence, on India’s own wings.”
At the launch, the minister presented the first passenger to check-in for the inaugural Easy Connect flight with a commemorative boarding pass. Also present at the occasion were Samir Kumar Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation; Puneet Kansal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation; Vipin Kumar, Chairman, Airports Authority of India;Campbell Wilson, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Air India; P. Balaji, Group Head – Governance, Risk, Compliance & Corporate Affairs, Air India; among other senior officials from government agencies and Air India.
Nationwide rollout
As the first airline to begin the hub-and-spoke services, Air India is leading a phased nationwide rollout that will progressively connect more domestic “spoke” cities in addition to Varanasi to the airline’s primary hubs in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, unlocking seamless, end-to-end international travel for millions of Indians.
Over the next few months, Air India aims to introduce ‘Easy Connect’ services from several other Indian cities progressively, including Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Chennai, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai, Patna, Vadodara, and Visakhapatnam, thus fundamentally changing the way Indian travellers access destinations around the world.
Campbell Wilson, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Air India, said: “India is a major force in global aviation, and yet, for decades a meaningful share of Indian travellers flying abroad have routed their journeys through overseas transit points – often at the cost of comfort and convenience. Air India’s ‘Easy Connect’ flights is a response to that reality, and we are grateful to the Government of India for its vision and support in enabling this framework.”
Wilson added: “In today’s India, a family in Varanasi, Amritsar, or Vishakhapatnam should not have to navigate unfamiliar transit environments to reach the world. They should be able to begin their international journey from their home city, on their own soil, feeling confident, comfortable, and proud as they connect seamlessly to global destinations.”
Nearly 25 million passengers travel long-haul to and from India annually, of which close to 20 million are connecting travellers – and around 85% (approximately 17 million) of whom currently transit through overseas hubs rather than Indian airports.
