The Digi Yatra facility is based on Facial Recognition Technology that provides seamless movement of passengers.
Digi Yatra: The Digi Yatra facility will be started at 14 more airports by the end of April 2024. Also, efforts are being made to make the Digi Yatra facility more user-friendly with certain changes in the architecture. This information was shared by Digi Yatra Foundation CEO Suresh Khadakbhavi while talking to the news agency PTI.
The Digi Yatra facility allows passengers to link their travel and identity documents together and create a facial scan beforehand.
Digi Yatra, which is based on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT), provides contactless and seamless movement of passengers at various checkpoints at airports.
As of now, about 50 lakh people are using this facility at 14 airports for domestic passengers. Discussions are on with various stakeholders concerned to make it available for international travellers as well.
The 14 new airports where the facility is to be rolled out soon are Bagdogra, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Dabolim, Indore, Mangalore, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Srinagar, Trivandrum and Vishakhapatnam.
Addressing the issue of the privacy of the data of the passengers, Digi Yatra Foundation CEO Suresh Khadakbhavi said Digi Yatra does not have any passengers’ data.
“It is only in the phone (of the user) that the data is residing and it is in the control of the passenger himself or herself,” he told PTI.
The data shared by a passenger for Digi Yatra is stored in an encrypted format. To avail of the service, a passenger has to register his or her details on the Digi Yatra app using Aadhaar-based validation and a self-image capture. Next, the boarding pass has to be scanned and the credentials are shared with the airport.
At the airport e-gate, the passenger has to first scan the bar-coded boarding pass and the facial recognition system installed at the e-gate will validate the passenger’s identity and travel document. Once this process is done, the passenger can enter the airport through the e-gate.
The passenger will have to follow the normal procedure to clear the security and board the aircraft. Personnel at the airports have been directed to enroll passengers only with their informed consent.
Khadakbhavi said work is going to ensure a more user-friendly experience for Digi Yatra users and changes are being looked at in the overall architecture. On making the facility available for international travel, he said discussions are going on with the external affairs ministry and other agencies.
These 14 Airports Will Get Digi Yatra
- Bagdogra Airport
- Bhubaneswar Airport
- Chandigarh Airport
- Chennai Airport
- Coimbatore Airport
- Dabolim Airport
- Indore Airport
- Mangalore Airport
- Patna Airport
- Raipur Airport
- Ranchi Airport
- Srinagar Airport
- Trivandrum Airport
- Vishakhapatnam Airport
(With PTI inputs)