On 11 July, the Ministry of Civil Aviation confirmed rollout details of a hub-and-spoke model that promises to revolutionise how passengers from India’s smaller cities reach the world. Under the scheme—first announced in the Union Budget—travellers flying from tier-II and tier-III airports (the “spokes”) will be able to complete check-in, baggage security, customs and immigration formalities at their origin airport. They will then board a domestic leg to a designated “hub” such as Delhi, Mumbai or Bengaluru, where they will transit air-side directly onto an international flight. For business travellers the gains are obvious: no more chaotic terminal transfers, repeated security screening or long queues at understaffed counters after midnight connections. The Civil Aviation Ministry projects average door-to-door time savings of two to four hours on high-traffic corridors such as Coimbatore-Delhi-New York or Guwahati-Mumbai-Dubai. Implementation is set to begin with six spoke airports—Coimbatore, Lucknow, Guwahati, Jaipur, Trichy and Kannur—linking to the hubs of Delhi and Mumbai from September 2026. New e-gates equipped with the Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) back-end will capture biometrics and perform exit-control vetting at the spoke itself. Airlines including IndiGo, Air India and Vistara have agreed to interline baggage through-tagging, while the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs will station officers on a rotational basis to seal duty-paid bags.
![India unveils hub-and-spoke international flight model to streamline customs and immigration]()
For travellers who want to make sure their paperwork keeps pace with this faster airport experience, VisaHQ can step in as a one-stop visa facilitation partner. Its online platform lets individuals and corporate travel managers verify entry rules, file applications and receive real-time updates so that visas are in hand well before anyone sets foot in a spoke terminal.
For corporate mobility managers, the model could unlock talent pools outside metros by cutting the “airport penalty” that often dissuades executives from accepting regional postings. Export-oriented SMEs in Tamil Nadu and Kerala hope faster connections will reduce missed client meetings and cargo delays. Challenges remain: spokes must meet International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards for secure transit-hold areas, and airlines need robust IT synchronisation to ensure advance passenger information reaches hub authorities. Yet, if successful, India’s hub-and-spoke experiment could become a template for other populous countries juggling airport congestion with regional development.
For travellers who want to make sure their paperwork keeps pace with this faster airport experience, VisaHQ can step in as a one-stop visa facilitation partner. Its online platform lets individuals and corporate travel managers verify entry rules, file applications and receive real-time updates so that visas are in hand well before anyone sets foot in a spoke terminal.
For corporate mobility managers, the model could unlock talent pools outside metros by cutting the “airport penalty” that often dissuades executives from accepting regional postings. Export-oriented SMEs in Tamil Nadu and Kerala hope faster connections will reduce missed client meetings and cargo delays. Challenges remain: spokes must meet International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards for secure transit-hold areas, and airlines need robust IT synchronisation to ensure advance passenger information reaches hub authorities. Yet, if successful, India’s hub-and-spoke experiment could become a template for other populous countries juggling airport congestion with regional development.
