What is Hub & Spoke? Ahmedabad Airport To Handle Immigration For Non-Direct International Flights

Ahmedabad on Tuesday became a ‘spoke’ of India’s ambitious ‘Hub & Spoke’ model connecting regional airports to international destinations through major Indian aviation hubs.

The model connects regional airports, or ‘spokes’, to larger airports that act as ‘hubs’. The idea is to allow passengers from regional cities to access a much wider international network through a major connecting airport.

Varanasi was the first ‘spoke’ of the system integrated in June 2026, while Amritsar became the second such airport in July 2026. With this Ahmedabad becomes the third ‘spoke’ airport.

How it would work for an Ahmedabad passenger

Suppose someone wants to travel from Ahmedabad to an international destination that does not have a direct flight.

The journey could work like this:

Ahmedabad → Delhi → International destination

Instead of treating Ahmedabad–Delhi and Delhi–international as two completely separate journeys, the Hub & Spoke system is designed to integrate them.

A passenger would be able to:

• Check in at Ahmedabad
• Complete the required immigration and customs formalities at Ahmedabad
• Have baggage checked through to the final international destination
• Fly from Ahmedabad to the designated hub
• Connect to the international flight at the hub
• Avoid repeating the same immigration, customs and baggage procedures during the connection

The objective is to make the connecting process more seamless and reduce repeated formalities at the hub. 

What changes for Ahmedabad?

Ahmedabad already has direct international connectivity, so the model does not mean all international passengers from the city will suddenly need to fly through a hub like Delhi.

Instead, it could provide an additional option for destinations that are not directly connected to Ahmedabad.

For example, if Ahmedabad does not have a direct flight to Hong Kong but Delhi does, the passenger could potentially use the hub-and-spoke connection:

Ahmedabad → Delhi → Hong Kong

This could give Ahmedabad passengers access to a considerably larger international network without requiring separate travel arrangements for each leg.

For Ahmedabad, the Hub & Spoke system would primarily expand the range of destinations available through connections, rather than replace existing direct international services.

In simple terms:

Direct flight: Ahmedabad → Dubai

Hub & Spoke: Ahmedabad → Delhi → a destination that may not have a direct Ahmedabad flight

The passenger still changes aircraft at Delhi, but the journey is intended to be handled as a more integrated connection.