At a DigiYatra checkpoint, the passenger’s face becomes the means of matching a person to travel credentials. The change is intended to reduce repeated presentation and inspection of documents as a traveller moves through the airport. When the service launched on 1 December 2022, it was available for domestic passengers at Delhi, Bengaluru and Varanasi. [1]
The launch followed a policy blueprint published in March 2021. Its design joined digital travel credentials, airport equipment and security checks into a common process. The app-based registration described at launch used Aadhaar validation and a self-image; the resulting identity could be linked to the passenger’s boarding pass. This was a change to passenger processing, with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Digi Yatra Foundation and participating airports each involved in delivery. [1] [2]
From three airports to a wider network
By 30 May 2026, the ministry reported that DigiYatra operated at 38 airports and had supported more than 10 crore journeys. Journeys are repeated uses of the system, not 10 crore distinct people. A frequent flyer can contribute several trips to the total. [3]
The same announcement said average airport-entry processing had fallen from 15 seconds to five seconds per passenger. That is a narrower claim than cutting the entire airport journey to a third of its previous duration. It concerns processing at entry, rather than all the time spent queuing, dropping baggage, undergoing security screening or waiting to board. The release did not set out a sampling method or independent evaluation for the timing figure. [3]
What the privacy assurance covers
In a February 2024 parliamentary reply, the ministry said personal information remained in the traveller’s mobile wallet, with encrypted information shared temporarily with the departure airport and deleted from that system 24 hours after flight departure. It also said DigiYatra underwent audits and certification by agencies empanelled with CERT-In. These describe the government’s stated safeguards; they do not amount to an independent verification of every installation’s data handling. [4]
The same reply said the service was managed by Digi Yatra Foundation, a not-for-profit company, and stated that the Foundation fell outside the Right to Information Act. That was the ministry’s position, not a judicial determination reproduced in the answer. For a government-promoted passenger service, the ability to scrutinise its operator is a substantive accountability question. [4]
Internet Freedom Foundation challenged the deployment on those grounds. In July 2024, the digital-rights organisation described complaints about enrolment without informed consent and called for public discussion of the system’s operations. It published its response to the Foundation’s invitation to a private meeting, asking for a wider, open dialogue. The organisation’s account documents a dispute about consent and transparency; it does not establish the frequency of improper enrolment at every airport. [5]
The original blueprint contains a concrete provision for passengers who decline facial recognition: a barcode or mobile QR-code check, accompanied by manual identity verification by security personnel. It also describes participation as voluntary and allows users to leave the system and delete their profiles. Alongside the camera and automated gate, the policy therefore envisaged another route into the terminal. [2]