Union Minister for Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu Friday inaugurated the Digi Yatra facility for nine airports at Visakhapatnam International Airport and virtually launched this facility for eight other AAI’s airports, namely Coimbatore, Dabolim, Indore, Bagdogra, Ranchi, Patna, Raipur, and Bhubaneswar airports.

During the launch event, the minister highlighted how Digi Yatra simplifies the cumbersome task of managing multiple documents—boarding passes, ID proofs and luggage tags while navigating the airport crowd.

The airport entry time for a passenger has reduced from an average 15 seconds in manual process to 5 seconds. Over 55 lakh users have already downloaded the app, and more than 3 crore passengers have used Digi Yatra to travel.

Since its launch of the first Digi Yatra facility at three airports, New Delhi, Varanasi, and Bengaluru, on December 1, 2022, the total number of Digi Yatra-enabled airports will become twenty-four, including nine airports of today.

He further highlighted the significance of Digi Yatra’s introduction, stating”Its introduction was very well in time, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the need for minimising physical contact became more urgent than ever. Digi Yatra offered contactless and paperless processing at key airport checkpoints. Since its inception, the system has helped save thousands of sheets of paper daily across airports, supporting our broader goal of sustainable development in the aviation sector.”

On the issue of data security, Mr Naidu reaffirmed the government’s commitment, said, “Even on the floor of Lok Sabha, I have emphasised that Digi Yatra is built on a foundation of robust data security. Today also, I would like to put it very clearly that there is no central storage of passengers’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII). All passenger data is encrypted and stored securely in their smartphones, shared only temporarily with the origin airport, and destroyed within 24 hours of departure. Privacy of every traveller is paramount for us, and the Ministry of Civil Aviation would not compromise on it.”

Digi Yatra is a transformative digital initiative of the Government to enhance the passenger experience with seamless, contactless, and paperless boarding at airports based on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT). It helps travellers pass through various checkpoints at the airports through paperless and contactless processing using facial features to validate their identity and travel details.