Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport is set to introduce the DigiYatra facility by the end of August. This development is particularly significant as Mumbai Airport, the second busiest in India, manages a daily influx of over 150,000 passengers. The implementation of DigiYatra’s biometric authentication system aims to alleviate the congestion at security checkpoints within the airport.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has officially announced that by August, five additional airports will adopt the DigiYatra system, with Mumbai’s CSMIA being the first on the list. The city’s financial hub has been eagerly awaiting the integration of DigiYatra since its initial launch in December 2022.
The Advantages of DigiYatra at Mumbai Airport
DigiYatra employs facial recognition technology to verify passengers’ identities as they enter the airport premises. This innovation substantially reduces entry time, with DigiYatra being 90% faster than the conventional manual entry processes at Mumbai’s airport.
Travelers are required to install the DigiYatra app on their Android or iOS devices at least two hours before their airport arrival. Within the app, passengers can input their flight details and capture a selfie using their phone’s camera. This image serves as a digital face scan. Dedicated entry gates exclusively for DigiYatra users will be accessible to expedite the process.
Furthermore, DigiYatra offers dedicated security points within the airport, allowing passengers to bypass lengthy queues during luggage scanning, thus saving additional time. Reports indicate that travelers utilizing DigiYatra have managed to reach their departure gates within a mere seven minutes of entering the airport premises.
Considering that Mumbai Airport handles over 980 daily flights and accommodates approximately 150,000 passengers, DigiYatra’s introduction will streamline the entry experience by eliminating lengthy queues.
The International Terminal T2 at Mumbai Airport will be the first to adopt DigiYatra, with plans to extend the system to the Domestic T1 terminal in subsequent weeks. In the recent past, there have been observations indicating the placement of DigiYatra devices at Mumbai Airport in the preceding weeks.
Expanding DigiYatra’s Reach to 13 Airports
Currently operational in seven airports, including Delhi, Varanasi, Bengaluru, Vijayawada, Pune, Hyderabad, and Kolkata, DigiYatra is poised for expansion to six more airports by the end of August. These new additions, namely Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Lucknow, Jaipur, and Guwahati, will bring the total count of DigiYatra-enabled airports to 13.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) intends to introduce DigiYatra at other high-traffic airports such as Chennai, Patna, and Bhubaneshwar, among others. The adoption of DigiYatra has surged since its inception in December 2022, with over 4.7 million passengers benefitting from its convenience and efficiency.
Notably, DigiYatra is accessible to both Indian and foreign passengers. However, international travelers will still need to undergo manual checks at immigration, as DigiYatra’s function primarily facilitates entry into the airport premises.
