Just show your face and board the flight

The government has recently launched DigiYatra for paperless entry at airports. Passengers will be allowed to travel paperless through biometric facial recognition technology (FRT). So, now your face will become your boarding pass. But to avail of this service, you have to download its app.

What is DigiYatra?

With DigiYatra, it will be a paperless entry for passengers at airports and the passenger data can be automatically processed based on a facial recognition system at various checkpoints, including at security check areas.

How Does DigiYatra (face boarding pass) work?

• For availing of the service, a passenger has to register their details on the DigiYatra app using Aadhaar-based validation and a self-image capture.
• In the next step, 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 passengers’ identity and travel document.
• Once this process is done, the passenger can enter the airport through the e-gate.
• Digi Yatra App is available on both IoS and Android. It is voluntary in nature.

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Shri @JM_Scindia today launched #DigiYatra from the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi for three airports in the country. Know about it in this video.@MoCA_GoI @Officejmscindia @AAI_Official @PIB_India pic.twitter.com/n2Ju5FQE8L

— PIB Civil Aviation (@Pib_MoCA) December 1, 2022

Paperless boarding facility at these airports

DigiYatra service is currently available for domestic passengers at Delhi, Bengaluru, and Varanasi airports. Digi Yatra in the first phase will be launched at 7 airports. Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, and Vijayawada airports will have this facility by March 2023. Later it would be implemented across various airports in the country. The service is presently being launched for domestic flight passengers only.

Is it safe?

According to the government, there is no central storage of Personally Identifiable Information (PII). The passenger’s ID and travel credentials are stored in a secure wallet in the passenger’s smartphone itself. The uploaded data will utilise blockchain technology and all the data will be purged from the servers within 24 hours of use.

India will now stand in ranks of world-class airports

With Digi Yatra, India will now stand in the ranks of world-class airports like Heathrow in London and Atlanta in the United States of America.

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