During holiday season towards the end of 2022, Delhi airport was plagued by chaos as long queues for check-in sparked off social media frenzy. As of now, chatbots such as ChatGPT are the most common manifestation of AI in everyday life Indian netizens. But flyers at Delhi's IGI Airport will now be able walk through entry gates till the boarding gate seamlessly within minutes, as AI-backed facial recognition verifies their biometrics.
Instead of waiting in line with documents, DigiYatra will allow 40 per cent of all domestic airline passengers to pass through quickly, by reading their facial features. Available at a single gate of Terminal 3 at the national capital's airport, the smart check-in system will be installed at all entry and boarding gates of T2 and T3. For this flyers need to register their biometrics on the DigiYatra app and then verify them using Aadhar card details.
After sharing the boarding pass QR code, passengers will get to check-in through a dedicated corridor, which will help them save as much as 20 minutes. This can make a significant difference at Delhi airport, which became the world's seventh busiest with more than 35 lakh passengers flying from there in December 2022. The app currently enabling check-ins at Delhi, Varanasi and Bengaluru airports, is being used by 2,500 people a day.
It will be rolled out for Pune, Vijaywada, Kolkata and Hyderabad as well by the end of March. Although BharatPe founder Ashneer Grover had flagged a glitch with the app in February, the Civil Aviation Ministry had clarified that it can be fixed with an update. Originally slated for a 2019 launch, the contactless DigiYatra platform became more relevant during the pandemic.
