(This story originally appeared in on May 22, 2018)

NEW DELHI: A unique identity number will soon let you whisk past airport processes while boarding domestic flights. A technical team representing Airports Authority of India AAI ) and the four private metro airports has finalised the format for biometric-based “digi-yatra” (DY) for all airports to enable a completely paperless boarding process for domestic flyers Under this, each traveller will need to get the unique ID from an aviation ministry portal which will be linked to their biometrics. People will give this unique DY ID at time of booking domestic tickets.Only those who want a paperless boarding experience will need to get this unique ID as the existing procedure will continue to remain in place. The aviation ministry had in September 2016 created the Airsewa portal for grievance redressal.Now this portal will be used for Digi-Yatra. “We are soon going to launch an updated version of AirSewa portal for which tenders have been issued. AirSewa-II will have a link for Digi-Yatra. Passenger will (individually) enrol themselves on this link to get a unique DY ID number. At the time of registration, they will give some ID proof like Aadhaar or four-five other things like driving licence. The details will be matched for verification,” AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra told TOI.Airline websites will also be updated to give the option of providing the unique DY ID number by passengers at the time of booking tickets. “When a passenger goes to the airport for the first time after getting the unique ID and with a ticket where the ID has been given at the time of booking, he or she will need to take the photo ID card and a photograph with them.At the airport, these details and iris scan will be captured. These will then remain in the system. After this whenever the passenger travels, it will be a smooth affair,” Mohapatra said. “We have sent this proposal to the ministry. Once approved by the ministry, the DGCA will need to mandate it. We have selected three airports, including Varanasi and Vijaywada, for rolling out DY,” the AAI chief said. Airport entry points will have E-gate that will read the bar code/QR code of the ticket containing DY and ticket information.The system will authenticate the travel details and the passenger will present biometric for authentication. On successful authentication, the E-gate will open. Thereafter the passenger can access various services like check-in, security check and boarding using QR Code or biometric. Flyers will use stored biometrics to prove identity to enter terminals; their DY-linked airline database will show what flight they are booked on and similarly linked airport databases will show they have been through security and allow access to boarding gate closer to flight departure time.These three processes will eliminate the need to show paper ID cards, tickets and boarding cards on domestic flights. Since PPP airports like Hyderabad and Bengaluru have already successfully conducted smart boarding processes, the aviation ministry wanted common practices at all Indian airports.