Smooth airport check-ins: Jyotiraditya Scindia assures hassle-free onboarding; discusses measures to avoid congestion

In a meeting of the advisory group with the airport operators, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia discussed the solutions for reducing congestion at the airports. Scindia emphasized on promotion of the use of “DigiYatra” for digital check-ins to avoid congestion at the airports, and to provide a smooth and time-saving airport experience for the passengers. 

DigiYatra

An initiative of the Civil Aviation Ministry, the app provides a paperless travel experience to air passengers, helping faster movement to boarding gates. The passenger is required to scan his boarding pass on the app and get his face scanned by looking at the camera.

The facility of digital check-in through DigiYatra is available at 13 airports in India, such as Lucknow, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Jaipur, Guwahati, Delhi, Bangalore, Varanasi, Vijayawada, Pune, Hyderabad, and Kolkata airports. It has been suggested that DigiYatra can be integrated for international passenger access at both departure and arrival. The airport operators are also tasked to implement biometric-enabled models being used in other countries. 

Review of Capital Expenditure by Airport Operators

Scindia also reviewed the Capital Expenditure target of the airport operators, aligning with the actuals obtained in quarter 3. The meeting was attended by all airport operators including GMR Airports, Adani Airports, BIAL, Cochin Airport and the Airports Authority of India.

Booming Aviation industry

In recent developments, the Indian airline industry is anticipated to significantly reduce its net losses to Rs 3,000-5,000 crore in the current fiscal year, down from an estimated Rs 17,000-17,500 crore in FY2023. This positive outlook is attributed to improved yields and a stable cost environment, as stated by credit ratings agency ICRA.

ICRA also projects a growth of 8-13 per cent in domestic air passenger traffic for both FY2024 and FY2025. The agency maintains a stable outlook for the industry, considering healthy passenger traffic growth, improved yields, and a stable cost environment.