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Air India’s new service: Clear immigration in Amritsar, fly worldwide via Delhi
An Air India official said the ‘Easy Connect’ service, which was launched in Amritsar on Tuesday, offered seamless single-ticket journeys for Punjab’s large diaspora.
The Easy Connect service introduces two Air India daily flights that will allow passengers to transit through Delhi to overseas destinations within four hours of arrival. (File Photo)
Air India on Tuesday launched its ‘Easy Connect’ service from Amritsar airport, linking passengers from Punjab to 27 global destinations through Delhi. Under the new service, passengers clear immigration and check in baggage at Amritsar itself. They then transit through Delhi as international travellers without re‑checking luggage or changing terminals.
The service, inaugurated by Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, introduces two daily flights—AI1113 at 9.10 am and AI1115 at 10 pm—that will enable passengers to transit through Delhi to destinations across North America, Europe, Australia, West Asia, and Southeast Asia within four hours of arrival.
Naidu said the move was a step toward “building an aviation network that serves a New India”.
P Balaji, Group Head of Governance, Risk, Compliance and Corporate Affairs at Air India, added that the service offers seamless single-ticket journeys for Punjab’s large diaspora, allowing travellers to begin their overseas journeys “from their home city without any hassle”.
The initiative is part of a broader national rollout to shift long-haul connecting traffic back through domestic hubs like Delhi rather than overseas airports, with plans to expand inbound connections to Amritsar within two months.
Air India’s ‘Easy Connect’ service first launched from Varanasi in June 2026 and is now being rolled out to multiple other Indian cities, including Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai, Patna, Vadodara, and Visakhapatnam.
‘Weakens Punjab’s push for direct international flights’
However, local aviation groups have argued the plan weakens Punjab’s push for direct international flights. Gunbir Singh, president of the Dilbir Foundation, a non-profit welfare organisation in Amritsar, said Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport, Amritsar, is being reduced to “a domestic spoke of the Delhi hub,” warning that passengers still face longer travel times despite easier immigration.
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Local stakeholders warned that despite being framed as a major connectivity boost, the framework risks diverting lucrative international passenger traffic away from Punjab, blunting decades of effort to establish direct, non-stop international flights for the region.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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