Soon, person’s face a ticket to enter airport

NEW DELHI: A person’s face will soon become his ticket to enter an airport and boarding pass to board a flight, with India providing details of its so-called Digiyatra on Thursday.

Hyderabad and Bengaluru airports will be the first to allow this, by February 2019, and they will be followed by Pune, Vijayawada, Varanasi, and Kolkata by the end of April, civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu said.

Digiyatra is a voluntary facial-recognition based system that allows paperless airport and flight entry.

The ministry of civil aviation said it will improve the efficiency and security of airports and airlines, even while making the lives of passengers simpler.

At the heart of the Digiyatra initiative are the Digiyatra IDs that passengers have to create on a website which has been set up for that purpose by the ministry of civil aviation.

They will then have to provide this Digiyatra ID everytime they book a ticket.

Passengers who provide their Aadhaar details while registering for an ID will be given a digital ID valid for five years while those providing other identity proof will be given Digiyatra IDs valid for one or two years, a civil aviation ministry official said.

“We have partnered with airlines and airport operators for this seamless travel experience. There will be a one time registration and data will be completely protected,” said RN Choubey, civil aviation secretary.

“This is a forward looking futuristic initiative and multiple stamping will be eliminated. Also, security will be far more enhanced. This is voluntary in nature and those not wanting to register will have to follow the same old methods,” civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu said.

The draft Digiyatra policy will be open for public consultation for 30 days .

It will be implemented after that.