Air India says passengers on the inaugural Easy Connect service from Varanasi on June 25 connected through Delhi to nine overseas destinations. The ministry separately confirms the launch of the hub-and-spoke arrangement.
The airline's announcement also advertised a network of 17 connecting destinations. Those counts answer different questions: nine describes the onward destinations used on the first service; 17 describes the advertised choice. Neither is a count of nonstop international routes from Varanasi.
Flight AI1111 carried the inaugural passengers. Air India described through-checking baggage and completing immigration at origin, making Delhi a transfer point rather than the place to start those procedures again.
The ministry's account adds a specific safeguard: distinct boarding cards identify domestic and international passengers to prevent intermixing. That separation matters because people on the same initial flight may have different journeys and processing requirements.
