Govt launches paperless boarding initiative 'DigiYatra' at Varanasi Airport

DigiYatra initiative aims to revamp the boarding process at airports by making it faster and seamless and is enabled by NEC India’s facial recognition and biometric solutions.

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Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has flagged off the DigiYatra program at the Varanasi airport virtually. The program is run by NEC India, who announced the unveiling of the most awaited DigiYatra initiative - a paperless boarding process for air passengers, at the Varanasi airport. The contactless processing of passengers is enabled through Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) and biometric technology. NEC India won a contract from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in December 2019, to implement the biometric boarding platform at four different airports, namely Varanasi, Kolkata, Pune and Vijayawada, under the DigiYatra initiative.

The solution helps realise a future wherein every citizen can travel hassle-free and enjoy their travel without having to wait at various checkpoints, including airport arrival, security clearance, and boarding for long durations.

The opt-in service offered by the facial recognition platform will significantly reduce the number of times passengers need to present physical documents, lash passports and boarding passes. Passengers would be required to do a one-time registration of their details on the DigiYatra app to avail of the services.

DigiYatra will be launched at 7 airports in its first phase, and it is currently active at the Bengaluru, Varanasi, and New Delhi airports. As part of the second phase of its implementation, the initiative will go live in Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, and Vijayawada airports, and subsequently across various other airports in the country.