Bhubaneswar: The proposed hub-and-spoke model that will start at Biju Patnaik International Airport from August, allowing overseas travellers to drop their baggage and undergo customs and immigration checks at the less crowded city airport to board an international flight from the hub (Delhi as of now), will facilitate only night departures.Any flight, which departs from the spoke (Bhubaneswar) early evening, will be able to have the connecting night flight from Delhi to any international city available, the airport officials said.“The facility will start in the second week of August. Except for European countries, other international destinations do not have any problem with night landing at their airports. However, if flights from Delhi to any international destination depart at night, it will certainly be morning landing there,” said a senior official.There, however, should be a maximum of four hours’ difference between the arrival time of a domestic flight at the hub and departure of the connecting international flight. If the waiting time at the hub for the international flight is within four hours, then it is workable, the airport officials said.For the hub-and-spoke model to kick off, an Air India Delhi flight will be used initially.The model, according to the Bhubaneswar airport authorities, will add convenience to overseas travellers, as undergoing customs and immigration checks in less crowded airports is far more hassle-free. Also, luggage will be automatically shifted to the international flight. In this model, two boarding passes will be issued to passengers from the spoke, the officials said, clarifying one will be for flying domestic (to the hub) and the other for the international destination concerned.They added Air India has a flight from Bhubaneswar at 8.45 pm, arriving in Delhi in two hours. From an arrival time of around 11 pm, four hours is available for passengers having pre-booked tickets for an international destination to go for security check straightaway. The immigration and customs would have been completed at the spoke, officials said.The airport officials further said other big airports in metros may be included as hubs in future. Also, besides Air India, other players may also evince interest in flying under the model.The officials said the Union civil aviation ministry has selected five airports to serve as spokes, with Bhubaneswar among them.
