Bangalore airport launches Digi Yatra with Vistara; to introduce biometric boarding process to other flights later

Bengaluru: Bangalore airport announced on Tuesday the roll out of the Digi Yatra (digital processing of passengers at the aerodrome), which has been implemented for one particular flight of full-service carrier Vistara to begin with. BIAL (Bangalore International Airport Ltd) will gradually introduce biometric-based self-boarding solution to other flights and airlines, a release said. All Vistara flights are expected to be integrated into the biometric boarding process at the Bangalore airport by October, it said. An initiative of the civil aviation ministry and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the facility seeks to minimise paperwork for air travel under a digital system or e-boarding process for airport entry and boarding flights using documents such as a passenger’s Aadhaar number and mobile phones, among others. [caption id=“attachment_2181955” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “Kempegowda International Airport on 22 June has successfully launched the fully biometric-based self-boarding solution for a seamless flow from registration to boarding,” BIAL said. Under the digital boarding process, the passengers can simply enroll their ID and biometric data, combined with their flight details, before entering the terminal. As they travel through the airport, passengers can put their travel documents away, as they will be authenticated and verified at every touchpoint by the biometric technology, BIAL said. “This process offers the highest degree of safety and security while ensuring stringent standards of privacy. The biometric data is used only for authentication and verification of passengers to assist the boarding process and not for recognition. In addition, the passenger data is deleted within a few hours of flight completion,” it said. BIAL has partnered with Tata-SIA run joint venture airline Vistara to launch the vision-box developed and installed one-ID biometric platform technology that will enable passengers to breeze through the airport, it said. “The first milestone of the programme will enable passengers travelling on Vistara flight UK864 from Bengaluru to Mumbai to utilise this process without presenting travel documents at every touch point,” the release stated. After the completion of the final phase by early next year, it is expected to be the largest deployment of an end-to-end paperless biometric programme in Asia with over 350 passenger touchpoints at Bangalore airports Terminal 1, BIAL claimed in the release. “BIAL is extremely excited to roll out this Digi Yatra-based biometric technology. A select few passengers now have the opportunity to experience this sophisticated technology as part of this roll out,” said Hari Marar, managing director and chief executive, BIAL. “Once we trial the full end-to-end process successfully and integrate it into the Digi Yatra platform, the technology and process will be used extensively for seamless flow in our upcoming Terminal 2 Project as well,” he said. Over the next few months, this process is expected to be integrated with check-in/ self-bag-drop to include other domestic and international airlines at the Bangalore airport. Commenting on the Digi Yatra roll out, Vistara’s chief information and innovation officer Ravinder Pal Singh said, “We continue to keep a sharp focus on leveraging technology to make travelling increasingly seamless across customer touchpoints. Collaborating with organisations across the aviation ecosystem using technology to enable this biometric boarding technology is yet another step in this direction. Vistara will continue to invest in cutting-edge technologies to stay ahead of the curve, he added.