Officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation said on August 1 that the Digi Yatra will be implemented in stages at airports across the country. While it will be operational in Varanasi and Bangalore beginning in August 2022, it will be operational in Kolkata, Pune, Vijayawada, Delhi, and Hyderabad by March 2023.
Digi Yatra aims to provide a seamless, paperless, and hassle-free experience for passengers at all Indian airport checkpoints. Officials stated that the main goal is to improve the passenger experience by eliminating the need for ticket and ID verification at multiple touch points and to achieve higher throughput using existing infrastructure and a Digital Framework.
According to an official, it will streamline passenger processes at various airport checkpoints, including the terminal entry gate, check-in, bag drop, and security check-up, as well as boarding gates.
Biometric Boarding System at the airports
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has awarded the work for the implementation of the Biometric Boarding System at the airports of Kolkata, Pune, Vijayawada, and Varanasi. Preliminary testing of the Digi Yatra Biometric boarding system, including registration for the ‘Day of Travel,’ has been completed at these airports.
The Digi Yatra policy, which was released in August 2018, includes detailed guidelines for implementing Digi Yatra at Indian airports. For implementation on the Digi Yatra Platform, the DGCA has issued Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) titled “Implementation on E-Boarding Process (Digi Yatra).”
System would use facial recognition
The system would use facial recognition with the passenger’s consent, in accordance with current data privacy and data protection regulations. The information provided by the passenger will only be used for the stated purpose and will not be shared with any other external stakeholders.
The data shared by the passenger will not be retained for more than 24 hours after the departure of the flight. Digi Yatra Central Identity Management Platform would be developed by the Digi Yatra Foundation, a Joint Venture (JV) Company of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), and other JV/private airports.
