New Delhi, June 26 -- Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu launched India's first 'Easy Connect' flight under the Hub-and-Spoke model from the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi on Thursday.

According to a Ministry of Commerce & Industry press release, this initiative marks a major step in the government's efforts to transform India into a global aviation hub while offering seamless international connectivity to passengers from Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

The Hub-and-Spoke strategy is designed to establish India as the aviation hub of choice for domestic passengers by 2030 and for the global market by 2047. Ministry studies indicate that the development of these aviation hubs can generate about 0.4 million d...