NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Sunday said that DigiYatra, the contactless and paperless initiative which relies on face recognition technology, has begun trial runs for international passengers at seven airports in India. A wider rollout across the country is planned in 2027 by incorporating passenger feedback from these trials, which are set to conclude by end of December.
The trials have commenced at Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Cochin, Mumbai, Chennai and Amritsar airports. The DigiYatra facility has been incorporated at 39 airports till now and is available only for domestic passengers.
In an official release, the Civil Aviation Ministry said, “The trials, scheduled to run from November to December 2026, will allow eligible Indian nationals holding e-passports to use the DigiYatra at designated airport touchpoints while travelling on select international flights operated by Air India and IndiGo.”
Eligible passengers will be able to use the facility at terminal entry points, Security Hold Areas (SHA) and boarding gates, wherever the required infrastructure is available.
To access the facility, eligible Indian nationals must create an e-passport-based Verifiable Credential (VC) through the DigiYatra mobile application. The process involves scanning the Machine Readable Zone of the e-passport, reading the embedded chip using the Near Field Communication (NFC) feature of a compatible smartphone, capturing a selfie and verifying the details.
The DigiYatra platform has over 2.65 crore users and has enabled more than 11 crore journeys across 39 domestic airports, serving domestic airlines. An additional 25 domestic airports will be equipped with this facility in 2027.
Indigo in an official release said, “This initiative is set to transform the international departure experience for Indian globe-trotters by extending the decentralised digital identity platform beyond domestic air travel.” Neetan Chopra, Chief Digital and Information Officer, IndiGo, said, “Having been a key part of the technical proof of concept, we are pleased to partner with Digi Yatra for the launch of these trials.”
Suresh Khadakbhavi, CEO of Digi Yatra Foundation, said, “Digi Yatra has demonstrated how digital identity can simplify domestic air travel.”
