As a consequence of the pandemic, the government has revised the registration process for the Digi-yatra (DY) initiative, which will eventually allow passengers to travel without documents.
People can enroll in the new system by digitally authenticating a government-issued I card such as Aadhaar or a driver’s license. Passengers can create a DY credential with personal information, travel information, and, if necessary, health information.
According to a notification on “installation of e-boarding procedure” released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on April 18, 2022, all of these data points are tagged to the single token facial biometric of the passenger.
Even once the much-delayed DY is launched, which has already been delayed by the pandemic, manual check-in processes will continue. Both Indian and international passengers will be able to use DY.
The traveler with a government of India identity that can be authenticated digitally would create the DY credentials using the self-service method. Aadhaar and a driver’s license are the only alternatives right now. Others, such as passports, and e-passports, will be introduced in the future.
Suppose there happens to be a problem with the self-registration. In that case, the procedure for enrolling for the first time at airport registration kiosks, which was initially planned before the epidemic, will remain available.
The DY credentials will be encrypted and saved on the passenger’s smartphone in a secure Walter. The information will not be stored centrally to minimize the danger of theft or loss.
The DGCA directive states that “DY credentials are provided only when travel occurs and only with passengers’ approval (by him/her) with airlines, airports, and regulatory organizations if necessary.” Such data will be provided 24 hours before the flight’s departure time and will be kept for another 24 hours before being removed from the system.
These regulations will be the responsibility of airports, airlines, and their travel agents. When passengers book tickets through any platform, airlines will be expected to offer a system for producing and obtaining the DY credentials of passengers.
This implementation would be done systematically for domestic travel and in the future for foreign travel. Airlines will exchange passenger data with airport operators’ DY biometric boarding system on a secure line at least six hours before aircraft departure time for ticket and ID validation.