Air India unveiled its newest ‘Easy Connect’ hub-and-spoke service at Sri Guru Ram Dass Ji International Airport, Amritsar on 28 July 2026. The model allows passengers to clear immigration, drop their checked bags and obtain boarding passes in Amritsar before transiting through Delhi on through-checked tickets to 27 long-haul destinations across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Two daily feeder flights—AI 1113 and AI 1115—now depart Amritsar and connect into the early-morning and late-evening global banks at Delhi, giving travellers a sub-four-hour lay-over window. Civil Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu, speaking by video-link, said the programme is designed to “repatriate international transfer traffic that leaks to Gulf and Southeast-Asian hubs” and to create regional economic benefits. Nearly 300,000 annual travellers currently back-track to Delhi by road or rail to catch long-haul flights; Air India estimates Easy Connect could save each flier five hours of journey time while boosting Amritsar’s ancillary tourism spend by ₹500 crore annually. Operationally, the service relies on Delhi Airport’s international-to-international transfer corridor and the DigiYatra biometric platform. Indian nationals must enrol in DigiYatra beforehand; foreign nationals use a dedicated transfer desk. A single PNR covers the domestic and international segments, insulating passengers from missed-connection liability and enabling through-check of luggage. Air India executives confirmed that Easy Connect will be rolled out to Ahmedabad, Kochi, Hyderabad and Goa by October 2026, creating a de-facto domestic hub-and-spoke system that mirrors competitors such as Emirates’ Dubai Connect. However, local Punjab business groups worry the scheme could reduce the commercial viability of direct long-haul routes from Amritsar, a long-standing regional demand. For corporates, the development offers a new option for India-headquartered mobility programmes: expatriate staff based in Punjab can now begin inter-continental rotations without an additional domestic leg later added to expense reports. Mobility managers should plan for mandatory DigiYatra registration at least 24 hours before departure and advise employees that check-in desks at Amritsar close 75 minutes prior to flight time.
