NEW DELHI: The facial recognition system, DigiYatra, has been launched at six more airports in the country paving the way for an easy entry for thousands of flyers.
Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu and Minister of State for Aviation Murlidhar Mohol launched the contactless, facial recognition system for the airports virtually from Coimbatore International Airport on Thursday.
The face biometric system made its debut at airports of Surat, Sri Vijayapuram, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Navi Mumbai and Nagpur, according to an official.
This is an addition to the 24 airports which already have the DigiYatra in place, including those at Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, Vijayawada, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Jaipur, Vishakapatnam, Patna, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Goa (Dabolim), Indore, Ranchi, Coimbatore and Bagdogra.
Data shared by the Ministry shows the number of DigiYatra mobile app uploads has touched 1.9 crore by November 2025, marking a massive increase over the 38 lakh downloads of the app by the end of 2023.
The pocket-friendly 'Udan Yatri café was launched at Coimbatore airport as well as Surat, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru simultaneously. These cafes will offer a huge relief to passengers who are forced to pay exorbitant sums at airports for beverages and food.
Udan Yatri rates: A cup of tea - Rs 10; a cup of coffee - Rs 20, Samosa- Rs 20; water bottle - Rs 10.
Free wi-fi facility was inaugurated or dedicated at 39 airports apart from the launch of Kids Zones at 7 airports.
Flybraries too were launched at five airports, bringing the overall number of airports with this facility to 21. Flybrary, first launched in an Indian airport in April 2023, aims to encourage the concept of reading among the public. A flyer can pick up a book, read it and return it to the shelf or take it along and return it to the Bakul Foundation, which is the brainchild of this concept. The public can also bring in their personal books and leave it here for others.