The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation, Shri Suresh Prabhu on October 4 released the policy on biometric based digital processing of passengers at airports called “Digi Yatra”.
- DigiYatra Central Platform will be operational by end of February, 2019. Bangalore & Hyderabad International Airports will be ready with pilot implementation by end of February, 2019. Airport Authority of India (AAI) intends to roll out the programme initially at Kolkata, Varanasi, Pune & Vijayawada by April, 2019.
- DigiYatra will provide a pan-India powerful platform for future, adding that Airports will have the possibility of providing innovative services and consent based targeted services in future.
- Any service provider involved in facilitating travel of passenger from door to door will be able to use this platform in future through innovative solutions.
About DigiYatra
- It is a Facial Recognition based passenger processing which is a common standard being adopted the world over. To provide a seamless experience right from the entry to the airport upto boarding the aircraft.
- DigiYatra will have a centralised registration system for passengers. Under the Digi Yatra, passenger can get a Digi Yatra ID by sharing minimum details like Name, e-mail ID, Mobile number and details of one approved Identity proof where Aadhar ID is not mandatory.
- This DigiYatra ID will be shared by passengers while Booking ticket. Airlines will share the passenger data and DigiYatraID with the departure airport.
- A passenger who has created the Digi Yatra ID has to undergo a onetime verification at the departure airport during his/her first travel.
- In case a passenger opted for Aadhar based verification, the identity will be verified online. On successful verification, facial biometric will be captured and stored in the Digi Yatra ID profile of the passenger. In case the passenger has chosen any other identity for creating Digi Yatra ID, verification will be done manually by Security personal and facial biometric will be captured and stored in the Digi Yatra ID profile. By this process the registration is complete.
- As per the the Secretary, MoCA, Shri Rajiv Nayan Choubey, a successfully registered passenger can go directly to the entry point E-Gate of the airport and scan the barcode/ QR code of the ticket/ Boarding pass. A camera will capture the face for comparing with DigiYatraID Photo. On successful verification of the travel details and facial matching, the E-Gate will open. The system will also generate a token in the system combining the face of passenger with PNR of the ticket, so that at subsequent check points the ticket details will be available on face recognition.
- At check-in counter or at the Self Bag Drop counter, the passenger will be identified by face and there is no need to show any document or ID for this purpose. The passenger will gain entry to the security check area through an E-Gate by facial recognition. Similarly at the boarding gate also the passenger will be identified by face for entering through an E-Gate for boarding the aircraft.
- Airlines will have the information of its passenger and their status within the terminal. No more missing passenger causing departure delays. Security will benefit from the ability of the technology to verify the passenger at every checkpoint in a non intrusive way except that physical frisking of the passenger as per security procedures will continue. Intentional Boarding pass exchange by passenger or wrong boarding by mistake will not happen.
