Transiting air travelers may soon skip immigration at connected airports

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu during the inauguration ceremony of the first flight of the Hub and Spoke model at Varanasi Airport, Thursday, June 25, 2026. | Photo credit: PTI

Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu on Thursday (June 25, 2026) launched a facility for transit passengers to clear immigration formalities at their departure airport to bypass the process at transit airports before reaching their final destination.

The first service of this model, operated by Air India, was launched from Varanasi on Thursday (June 25).

“All SOPs (standard operating procedures) and systems are now complete; all stakeholders have been brought together. The first operation starts from Varanasi today. In the next six weeks, we will see six new destinations added to this model,” the press minister said.

Air India Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Campbell Wilson said the facility will subsequently be launched in Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Vadodara, Kochi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Visakhapatnam.

Mr. Naidu claimed that this facility will put Indian airports on par with some of the leading hubs like Singapore and Dubai.

“This is a very important day for Indian civil aviation because there are high expectations for hub-and-spoke operations in the country. Some go to Dubai, some go to Singapore and other places and from there they have transit connections to the rest of the world. We have the capacity and we have the infrastructure, we have everything ready,” he said.

Published – 25 Jun 2026 22:19 IST