The Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced on 11 August 2023 that the mobile application Digi Yatra facility will be launched at six more airports in phase manner. The mobile application-based facility will be available at Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Lucknow, Jaipur, and Guwahati airports by August 2023. The total number of Digi Yatra-enabled airports will increase to thirteen.
The Digi Yatra was launched by Scindia on 1 December 2022 simultaneously at the:
Indira Gandhi Airport New Delhi,
Kempegowda International Airport Bangalore, and the
Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi.
Later the Digi Yatra facility was extended to :
GMR Hyderabad International Airport, Hyderabad,
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata,
Pune International Airport Pune, and at the
Vijayawada International Airport, Vijayawada.
Digi Yatra is a mobile application-based facility that helps achieve contactless, seamless processing of passengers at airports based on Facial Recognition Technology.
Passengers will have to register on the DigiYatra app through their respective Aadhaar cards to avail the service.
Digi Yatra automates the entry and verification of passengers at all airports checkpoints by using facial features to establish a traveller’s identity and link it to their respective boarding passes.
Digi Yatra enables shorter wait times in lines, quicker processing times, and simpler procedures for the passengers.
In the Digi Yatra process, there is no central storage of passengers' personally identifiable information (PII) data.
The passenger data is encrypted and stored in the wallet of their smartphone.
The data is purged from the airport's system within 24 hours of departure of the flight.
Digi Yatra has been promoted by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation. To develop a facial recognition system at the airports, Digi Yatra Foundation was set up in 2019.
The Digi Yatra Foundation is a joint venture of the Airport Authority of India (AAI), Cochin International Airport (CIAL), Bangalore International Airport (BIAL), Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL), Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (HIAL) & Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL).