Digi Yatra, One Million Users Installed Digi Yatra App

Digi Yatra: The Digi Yatra initiative is a program launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in India. It aims to transform the air travel experience for passengers by leveraging digital technology and biometric authentication. The primary objective of Digi Yatra is to provide a seamless, paperless, and hassle-free journey for air travelers.

Digi Yatra App in News

23. Since launch of Digi Yatra App by Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia on December 1, 2022, a total of 1.746 million individuals have utilized this convenient facility.

Digi Yatra App User Base

Digi Yatra application user base as on 20th June 2023:

Airport-wise user data since the inauguration of the facility:

The Digi Yatra was initially launched at three airports, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Varanasi in December 2022 which was followed by Vijayawada, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Pune in April 2023. The Digi Yatra passenger adoption in all seven airports since 1st April 2023 is as follows:

Digi Yatra Initiative Details

Digi Yatra, an initiative by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, introduces a facial biometric verification technology for a streamlined boarding system.

• Its primary goal is to enhance the airport experience for passengers by eliminating the need for manual verification of tickets and identification documents at various checkpoints.
• By leveraging a digital framework, Digi Yatra aims to achieve improved throughput within existing infrastructure, ensuring a seamless and hassle-free journey.
• In the Digi Yatra process, passengers’ personally identifiable information (PII) data is not stored centrally. Instead, it is encrypted and stored within the passengers’ smartphone wallets.
• This data is only shared for a limited duration with the originating airport where the passenger’s Digi Yatra ID is validated. Within 24 hours of the flight, the data is purged from the system.
• The passengers themselves share the data directly, solely during their travel, and only with the origin airport.
• Due to encryption and restricted sharing, the data remains inaccessible to any other entity or stakeholder.

DigiYatra

DigiYatra envisages that travellers pass through various checkpoints at the airport through paperless and contactless processing, using facial features to establish their identity, which would be linked to the boarding pass.

• Implementation: The project is being implemented by the DigiYatra Foundation.
• Airports Covered: In addition to the above airports, DigiYatra will be rolled out at Varanasi and Bengaluru this month, and at five airports- Pune, Vijayawada, Kolkata, Delhi and Hyderabad- by March next year.
  • The Airport Authority of India (AAI) will identify the airports where DigiYatra will be implemented in a phased manner.
• Significance: With DigiYatra technology, the entry of passengers would be automatically processed based on the facial recognition system at all checkpoints – including entry into the airport, security check areas, aircraft boarding, etc.

How to use DigiYatra Facility?

• Download DigiYatra App: Passengers will need to first download the DigiYatra app to use Digiyatra Facility.
• Registration: Users can register on the app using Aadhaar credentials, followed by a selfie with the Aadhaar card.
  • After this, vaccination details using CoWIN credentials will have to be added to the app.
• Seamless Travel: After above, the person will have to scan his or her boarding pass with the QR code or Bar code, after which the credentials will be shared with the airport.
  • For entry into the airport, passengers will need to scan their boarding passes at the e-gate and look into the facial recognition system camera installed there.
  • A similar method will be applicable for entry into other checkpoints.

DigiYatra Foundation 

• About: DigiYatra Foundation is a joint-venture company whose shareholders are-
  • The Airports Authority of India (26% stake) and
  • Bengaluru Airport, Delhi Airport, Hyderabad Airport, Mumbai Airport and Cochin International Airport, equally holding the remaining 74% of the shares.
• Key Role: The DigiYatra Foundation will be the custodian of the passenger ID validation process.
  • It will also define the criteria for compliance and guidelines for the local airport systems.
• Audit System: There will be regular audits of the various compliances and guidelines (including guidelines on security, image quality, and data privacy) defined by the DigiYatra guidelines for the local airport Biometric Boarding Systems.

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)

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