The Ministry of Civil Aviation has introduced a new digital experience for air travellers through the DigiYatra platform, an industry-led initiative coordinated by the ministry in line with the Prime Minister—Shri Narendra Modi’s Digital India, transforming the nation into a digitally empowered society.
Digi Yatra will facilitate paperless travel, avoiding identity check at multiple points by digitally processing passengers at airports with a facial recognition system at check points, which will facilitate self-bag drop and check-in, also using facial recognition to identify pax and data recall.
The government of India’s office of the director general of Civil Aviation, released requirements for the new E-Boarding system, which stated: “Airline operator and the airport operator may follow the detailed procedure for uniform implementation of E-Boarding system as per the Digi Yatra policy of Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India.
“They plan to operationalise Digi Yatra for those passengers who have voluntarily opted to provide required details at the time of the booking of the air tickets. The guidance manual has been prepared in consultation with all the government agencies concerned, including those dealing with security and Aadhar.”
The Indian government’s national portal for India said the Digi Yatra platform will be built on 4 key pillars like Connected Passengers, Connected Airports, Connected Flying and Connected Systems, which can make it possible for passengers to plan their trips efficiently by identifying price trends and estimate future airfares at the time of ticket booking.
Airport walk-through security scanners will have advanced biometric security solutions, helping to receive real time notifications about congestion and delays to have greater visibility on the next step of journey, conveniently navigating using digital guidance systems and staying connected during flights and indulge in immersive experiences.
According to The Indian Express, this scheme will begin piloting at Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports this month (February) and Airports Authority of India (AAI) will initially launch it at Kolkata, Varanasi, Pune and Vijayawada airports before April this year (2019).
Photo: Indian Express – facial recognition at Indian airports
