Centre Pushes Hub-and-Spoke Aviation Model; Delhi Airport Readiness Reviewed

The government projects that the hub-and-spoke model could generate around 16 million jobs and contribute nearly USD 1.4 trillion to the economy by 2047.

New Delhi: Civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu on Thursday reviewed operational readiness at Indira Gandhi International Airport for implementing a hub-and-spoke model, positioning India as a global aviation transit hub.

The minister chaired a high-level meeting with stakeholders including representatives from civil aviation ministry, home ministry, DGCA, BCAS, AAI, CISF, Bureau of Immigration, Delhi International Airport Limited, and leading airlines. He also conducted an on-ground inspection of passenger flow systems and the security hold area at Terminal 3.

The hub-and-spoke strategy, anchored in the National Civil Aviation Policy 2016, aims to transform India from a point-to-point aviation market into a global transit hub by leveraging its geographic advantage between eastern and western hemispheres.

Ram Mohan Naidu said nearly 35% of international passengers from India currently transit through foreign hubs such as Dubai, London and Singapore. “Our aim is to reverse this trend by developing globally competitive Indian hubs,” he noted.

The model will integrate Tier-II and Tier-III airports developed under the UDAN scheme with major hubs including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai, enabling seamless domestic-to-international connectivity while optimising infrastructure utilisation.

Delhi Airport, with capacity exceeding 100 million passengers annually and handling around 50,000 daily transfers, is being positioned as a key hub in this transition.

The strategy also focuses on cargo efficiency through measures such as elimination of re-screening for transshipment cargo and digitisation of approvals, aimed at reducing turnaround times.

The government projects that the hub-and-spoke model could generate around 16 million jobs and contribute nearly USD 1.4 trillion to the economy by 2047.

Operationally, passengers from smaller cities will be routed through hub airports with streamlined baggage transfers and dual boarding passes for domestic and international segments. Customs and immigration processes will be decentralised to spoke airports to reduce congestion at major hubs.

The ministry said the initiative marks a structural shift in India’s aviation ecosystem, supported by expanding wide-body aircraft fleets, slot optimisation, and digital solutions such as DigiYatra.