The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation on December 1st launched a new digital service to offer paperless entry at the airports through the app named ‘Digi Yatra’, which will enable passengers to travel hassle-free through biometric-based digital processing for domestic air travelers.
The service uses facial recognition technology to save data and automatically process passengers' information at checkpoints including - entry point checks, security checks, and aircraft boarding.
Digi Yatra in brief:
Digi Yatra is a new facial recognition boarding service introduced by the government at three of India’s major airports, this will help in initiating paperless processing of passengers at airport checkpoints, besides the self-bag drop and the check-in service and facial recognition to identity, which implies that the new passenger traveling by air need not carry their ID Card and boarding pass for the formalities that existed previously.
Where is the Digi Yatra service available?
The services are currently available for domestic flight passengers only. For the first phase, the services have been launched at seven airports, beginning with three in Varanasi, Bengaluru, and Delhi, while the other four will have the system by March 2023 which includes Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, and Vijayawada, and eventually, the entire country will have the system in the due time.
Travelers will be able to make use of it by downloading the app and registering via Aadhar ID. There is no central storage of Personally Identifiable Information (PII). The passenger’s ID and travel credentials are stored in a secure wallet on the passenger’s smartphone itself.
A glance at the benefits of DigiYatra in detail:
• With the elimination of ID checks at check-in, passengers will be experiencing faster movement to boarding gates.
• This will ensure a contactless and paperless hassle-free movement of passengers.
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• Passengers will no longer need to carry ID or boarding passes with them at every checkpoint.
• The check-in time at the airport will reduce.
• App is built in such a manner that will track the passenger’s credentials through PNR for enhanced security.
• This will also reduce fraud and only legitimate passengers will be allowed to board the plane.
Follow these simple steps to use Digi Yatra at the airport:
• After the verification of Digi Yatra ID, enter the e-gate at the airport dedicated to the boarding of passengers with Digi Yatra ID.
• Following that you need to share and scan the bar-coded Boarding Pass to receive your Mobile Boarding Pass.
• Upon scanning all you need to do is scan and verify your identity at the FRS, Face Recognition System installed in the e-gate camera.
• Leading to the successful validation, the e-gate will open for you to enter the airport.
• Enter the terminal drop your luggage at the check-in desk and proceed towards the DigiYatra Gate.
• You need to verify your identity here at the FRS once again installed in the e-gate camera.
• And on the last successful validation, the e-gate will automatically open for you to proceed with the security check.