Beta version of DigiYatra app rolled out at this Bengaluru airport. 10 key points

On the celebration of the 75th Independence Day, the beta version of the DigiYatra App was successfully rolled out at the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (BLR Airport). DigiYatra is contactless and enables seamless processing for passengers at airports, based on the use of single token face biometrics for verification of passengers is a significant project led by the government.

Hari Marar, MD & CEO at Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL) said, "The Digi Yatra Central Ecosystem implementation is one more step towards achieving this. We are glad to be part of the first phase rollout and value the trust reposed in us by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, DGCA, and the Government of India. As the new gateway to India, BLR Airport is keen to be at the forefront of change and innovation.

Here are 10 key points to know:

1. BLR Airport is one of the two selected airports in India in the first phase rollout of the DigiYatra Central Ecosystem (DYCE). And this new-age, contactless and seamless process commenced on August 15, 2022.

2. At BLR Airport, the DigiYatra Biometric boarding system at e-gates is operational and being rolled out at full scale for all domestic airlines in a phased manner, covering checkpoints for domestic travel.

3. During the launch day, passengers experienced a seamless check-in, passed through security, and boarded their respective flights using their single token face biometric for validating their identity and their boarding pass.

4. Currently, Tata Group-backed Vistara and AirAsia are the two airlines integrated with DigiYatra.

5. Passengers can easily enroll on the DigiYatra app from the comfort of their homes.

6. The app is currently available on Google Playstore for Android users, and an iOS version will be made available in one month.

7. BIAL has been pioneering the DigiYatra effort from its early concept days and pilot trials have been held since January 2017 at BLR Airport.

8. DYCE is the initiative of the Digi Yatra Foundation (DYF) which was set up as a joint venture company in 2019, and BIAL is one of the key shareholders. The

DigiYatra Foundation will be a pan-India entity and the custodian of the Passenger ID validation process.

9. DigiYatra ensures that privacy issues are taken care of and passengers will not have to worry about sharing their data as it is secure and will be deleted after 24 hours following their travel.

10. The DYCE is being built on the standards defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which include Self Sovereign Identity (SSI) with Verifiable Credentials (VCs), Decentralised Identifiers (DIDs) with a trust layer of a Distributed Ledger and ensuring adoption of Privacy by Design and Privacy by Default as the fundamental tenets.