Varanasi becomes the new gateway of global travel: It has become easy to go abroad directly from Kashi… Civil Aviation Minister started ‘Easy Connect’ service

Varanasi: Varanasi, the cultural capital of Uttar Pradesh, has now emerged as a major international gateway on the global tourism and air travel map. Civil Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu on Thursday officially inaugurated Air India’s innovative ‘Easy Connect’ service at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Airport in Babatpur.

On this occasion, the Union Minister said that earlier the passengers going abroad from Varanasi and surrounding areas had to disembark in metropolitan cities like Delhi or Mumbai and collect their luggage again from the belt. After this one had to go through long queues for security check, immigration and re-check-in. But now under ‘Easy Connect’, passengers will complete the check-in and immigration process in one go at Varanasi Airport itself. After this, on reaching Delhi, they will be able to board their foreign flight directly like an international transit passenger without any additional formalities.

What is ‘hub and spoke’ model?

Union Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu described this new system as Hub and Spoke model of the aviation sector. The country’s huge airports like Delhi and Mumbai will play the role of ‘hub’. Airports in tier-2 and tier-3 cities like Varanasi will act as ‘spokes’, connecting to the entire world through these key hubs.

The Civil Aviation Minister has announced that within the next 6 weeks, 6 more major cities of the country will be connected to this excellent model. There are also preparations to start this facility in cities like Patna and Guwahati. In future, Indigo Airlines can also provide such services by making Mumbai its main hub.

The Union Minister said that a lot of progress has been made in the field of civil aviation in the last 12 years. If we want to make the country stronger, we will have to work keeping the future in mind. This is a start in that direction. He urged people to travel on as many Indian airlines as possible while traveling abroad. Shri Naidu said that at present there are 30-35 international airports in the country, of which six are in metro cities. Everyone wants international air service to start directly from their city. The hub and spoke model is the solution.

Wilson said that every year 26 million travelers travel abroad from India. Air India plans to engage more and more passengers by joining the hub and spoke model.

Varanasi-Delhi flight schedule-connecting flights

As part of this historic launch, the first flight number AI1111 took off from Varanasi at 9:30 am, where the Union Minister himself handed over the boarding passes to the first passengers. As per regular schedule:

Flight Timings: This flight will take off from Varanasi every day at 9:50 am and land in Delhi at 11:00 am.

Global Connectivity: Within the next 4 hours of reaching Delhi, passengers will get connecting flights of Air India to 17 major international cities of the world.

Direct connecting flights will be available for these 17 global cities

London Heathrow (2 flights), Zurich, Rome, Milan, Frankfurt, Vienna, Copenhagen, Dubai, Riyadh, Singapore, Bangkok, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur, Kathmandu, Colombo, Manila and Ho Chi Minh City.

What did the aviation industry veterans say?

“This is not just a new flight, but the beginning of a new era in the Indian aviation sector. For decades, our passengers were dependent on foreign hubs, but now India itself is going to become a big global hub.” – Sameer Kumar (Civil Aviation Secretary)

“Easy Connect flights will completely eliminate the hustle and bustle and mental stress of international passengers from small cities. Air India is soon going to expand this service to Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Kochi, Chennai and Visakhapatnam.” -Campbell Wilson (CEO, Air India)

Many senior officials including Airport Authority of India (AAI) Chairman Vipin Kumar Sinha and Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for MSME Hansraj Vishwakarma were also present during this dignified ceremony.

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