Government Launches DigiYatra Center at 3 Airports; Commit to Data Security

The Government of India has launched the DigiYatra facility at three airports across the country. With this new facility, passengers will be able to check in seamlessly when traveling through airports using facial recognition technology. From December 1, the DigiYatra facility will be available at IGI Airport in the national capital, Kempegowda International Airport in Bangalore and Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi. The service will soon be launched at several other airports next year.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia inaugurated the DigiYatra facility at the Delhi airport on December 1. According to the minister, the new entry point will ensure the safety of passenger data as it will be stored in an encrypted format.

In the first phase, the service will be rolled out to boarding airlines. Passengers taking domestic flights can use this facility at Delhi, Bangalore and Varanasi airports. Currently, only three airlines – Air India, Vistara and IndiGo – are part of DigiYatra, while SpiceJet plans to join the initiative soon.

In August this year, the DigiYatra program was launched at the Hyderabad International Airport for a period of three months. Meanwhile, the facility is planned for four more airports – Hyderabad, Pune, Vijayawada and Kolkata – by March next year.

In the future, services will be extended to all major airports in the country. For passengers taking domestic flights and willing to check in with new technology, the DigiYatra app is available on Android and iOS.

To use the service, the passenger will be required to register his details in the DigiYatra app. This can be done using Aadhaar based authentication and passenger photo. Later, the boarding will be scanned, following which the information will be shared with the airport about 24 hours before the flight time. At the airport gate, the passenger will be able to check-in using the barcode on the scanned boarding pass and facial recognition.

However, other processes including security checks and authorizations will take place as a normal practice.