In the near future, air passengers flying out of the Chennai airport may not have to stand in long queues at the entrance to get their tickets and ID proof checked to enter the terminal.
Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) say the ‘DigiYatra’ scheme will soon be implemented by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Under this scheme, a passenger going to the terminal can get his image captured and ticket scanned, after which she can enter, instead of endlessly waiting in queues at the entrance.
“This system will save time for passengers and also ensure better security for airports. At first, on a trial basis, it will be implemented at a few airports, including Kolkata, Varanasi, Vijayawada and Pune, after which we will bring it to Chennai as well,” an official said.
After the passenger’s face is scanned, the system will know she has entered the terminal and subsequently, after the security check, instead of stamping by CISF staff, the machine will scan her face and with the boarding pass, can go ahead for boarding. “With this system, someone who travels with a fake ticket or with the boarding card of another passenger may not be able to do so and the system will find out immediately,” he said.
Better monitoring
For the airport staff, this system will show them where the passenger is and if she has crossed the security check or not, thereby saving time. “Also, an airport manager can see how far the queue is and how many passengers have entered the terminal,” the official added.
But it is not necessary for passengers to sign up to this system; those passengers who want to use this system have to get their profile created — which will be done by AAI — and provide their name, mobile number or email id and one of the ID proofs. “They can take the conventional route and get the tickets and ID checked by the CISF staff itself,” the official added.