India releases Policy on Biometric Processing of Airport Passengers

DigiYatra Central Platform to be operational by end of February, 2019

India’s Civil aviation Ministry has released a policy on biometric digital processing of passengers at airports called “Digi Yatra.”

The DigiYatra Central Platform is expected to be operational by the 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.

Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash

According to the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, the Ministry has taken the initiative to develop standards for digital processing of passengers at airport to ensure uniform implementation and passenger experience across Indian airports through a connected ecosystem. He said, a technical working committee having members from airport operators, airlines and industry has been formed for development of standards.

Suresh Prabhu said that airports would have the possibility of providing innovative services and consent based targeted services in future.

Minister of State of Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha said that Facial Recognition based passenger processing was a common standard, being adopted the world over. To provide a seamless experience right from the entry to the airport upto boarding the aircraft, Sinha said, 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,” said Sinha. He pointed out that a passenger who has created the Digi Yatra ID has to undergo a one-time 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,” he explained.

Jayant Sinha said, Digi Yatra would bring benefits to passengers and all stakeholders involved in the process, as Airport operators would have travel information in advance for better resource planning and the real-time data of passengers within the terminal would enable the operator to take proactive action to avoid congestion.

“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,” said Rajiv Nayan Choubey, Secretary, MoCA.

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.

As Indian Aviation is witnessing an unprecedented passenger growth for the past 50 months and it is likely to continue, this would mean the existing airports have to handle more passengers for considerable time before additional infrastructure is created. “The passengers are expecting better facilitation at the airport and Security remains a key concern in air travel. Leveraging technology is the only solution to meet such challenging requirements,” said Choubey. Pointing out that multiple stakeholders are involved in a seamless travel process for a passenger, he emphasised that it was important that the stakeholders work in a connected environment for reaping the benefits of technology.

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