New Delhi, May 30 (IANS). The government said on Saturday that so far more than 10 crore seamless and paperless journeys have been completed through the Digi Yatra app. At the same time, this app has been downloaded more than 24 million times on iOS and Android platforms.
With the help of this platform, the average time of entry process at airports has reduced from 15 seconds to only 5 seconds per passenger. Currently Digi Yatra is active at 38 airports in the country and 27 more airports will also be connected next year.
Faster and smoother passenger movement has led to better utilization of terminal infrastructure. This has reduced congestion at airports and also reduced dependence on manual processes. According to the Civil Aviation Ministry, Digi Yatra has become one of the most successful digital initiatives in the global aviation sector today.
By eliminating the need for physical boarding passes, this initiative is also contributing to environmental protection. This is saving thousands of sheets of paper every day at participating airports.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu congratulated the Digi Yatra team on reaching the 10 crore usage mark.
He said, “This achievement shows that passengers are increasingly trusting the seamless, paperless and contactless travel system. This acceptance of Digi Yatra has come at a time when air travel in the country is increasing rapidly. While in the year 2014, the number of domestic air passengers per day was less than 2 lakh, in the last three years this figure has reached more than 5 lakh several times.”
The minister said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of making air travel more accessible and convenient, the annual passenger count at Indian airports is estimated to reach 50 crore by 2030 and about 100 crore by 2040.
He further added, “To handle this rapid growth effectively, we are working on adopting several digital technologies like Digi Yatra, Self Baggage Drop facility, expansion of Air Traffic Control Automation System, Air Seva Portal for grievance redressal and AI-based Digital Twin to improve airport operations.”
Naidu said that while many countries are still evaluating the possibilities of implementing biometric-based passenger processing on a large scale, India has successfully implemented and expanded Digi Yatra in a very short period of time.
He also informed that the major greenfield airports coming up this year — Navi Mumbai, Jewar and Bhogapuram — will be fully Digi Yatra enabled.
The minister said that currently Digi Yatra supports 11 languages and 11 more regional languages will be added by the end of this year.
–IANS
DBP
