The Digi Yatra facility is all set to be launched at six additional airports across India. According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the expansion of this contactless passenger processing system to Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Lucknow, Jaipur, and Guwahati airports is slated for August 2023.
The phased implementation and installation of Digi Yatra infrastructure at these airports will further enhance the ease and efficiency of air travel for passengers.
As of August 10, 2023, the Digi Yatra platform has already been utilised by 3,460,454 passengers. Additionally, the Digi Yatra mobile application has garnered a user base of 1.29 million individuals by the same date. These numbers underscore the growing popularity and adoption of this innovative technology-driven solution by air travelers in India.
Digi Yatra, a concept in airport passenger processing, was initially launched on December 1, 2022, at three key airports: New Delhi, Varanasi, and Bengaluru. Since its inception, it has been successfully implemented at four more airports, namely Vijayawada, Pune, Hyderabad, and Kolkata, thus bringing the total count of Digi Yatra-enabled airports to seven.
With the upcoming inclusion of the six aforementioned airports, the reach of Digi Yatra will expand to a remarkable thirteen airports across the country.
Delhi and Mumbai Airports have emerged as aviation giants, with monthly capacities of 74 million and 60 million passengers, respectively. With 30 international airports currently operational, the country is striving to enhance airport facilities and processes to accommodate this growth, said VK Singh, Minister of State for Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Digi Yatra operates on a mobile application-based framework, harnessing the power of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) to offer a seamless, contactless passenger processing experience at airports. This approach empowers passengers to navigate various checkpoints at the airport with ease, while eliminating the need for physical documents and minimising touchpoints.A unique aspect of Digi Yatra is its commitment to passenger privacy and data security. The system does not store any passenger’s Personally Identifiable Information (PII) centrally. Instead, all passenger data is encrypted and stored securely within the user’s smartphone wallet. This encrypted information is only shared between the passenger and the airport of origin where the Digi Yatra ID needs to be validated.
Crucially, this data is automatically deleted from the airport’s system within 24 hours of the passenger’s flight departure, ensuring a robust data protection protocol.
This approach, according to MoCA, safeguards sensitive passenger information while providing a seamless and efficient passenger processing experience.
