In a written reply, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol reported that as of May 31 this year, 7,030 flights have been canceled. Whereas, 6,413 flights were canceled in 2022, and the number rose to 7,427 in 2023.
The carriers are scheduled to operate 456,919 departures in 2024, according to data submitted by the ministry to the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Regarding Digi Yatra, the minister stated that it is planned to be introduced at airports nationwide in a phased manner. Since its launch, more than 25 million air travelers have utilized Digi Yatra, which is based on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) and enables contactless, seamless movement of passengers through various checkpoints at airports.
The Minister also said, “All the passenger data is encrypted and stored in the passenger’s smartphone wallet and shared only for a limited time duration with the origin airport where passenger ID needs to be validated. The data is purged from the system after 24 hours of the departure of the flight.”