Travelling through Indian airports is set to get faster and less stressful for another set of a large chunk of Indian flyers as Digi Yatra gears up to add its biometric-based travel system across 17 additional airports during the current financial year. The expansion will take the platform beyond the 24 airports where it is already live, extending queue-free entry and paperless travel to more cities across the country. For passengers, the biggest benefit is simple: less time spent standing in lines as Digi Yatra allows travellers to use facial recognition instead of physical ID checks at airport entry gates, thus reducing verification time significantly.
Run by Digi Yatra Foundation, the platform has already recorded over 19 million app downloads and enabled more than 81 million passenger journeys so far. So far, around 30% of domestic departing passengers now use Digi Yatra nationally which also indicates growing comfort among flyers with biometric-based travel. “Our strategic expansion is designed to enhance ecosystem readiness through improved infrastructure, deeper airline integration and increased passenger awareness,” said Suresh Khadakbhavi, CEO of Digi Yatra Foundation.
Frequent flyers are among the fastest adopters. According to Khadakbhavi, airports with high passenger volumes have seen quicker acceptance, as regular travellers increasingly treat Digi Yatra as a default part of their airport routine. This has translated into smoother passenger movement, particularly during morning and evening peak hours. The time savings are most visible at entry gates—often one of the most crowded points in an airport. Manual identity checks typically take 15–20 seconds per passenger, depending on preparedness and staffing. “With Digi Yatra, that comes down to about five seconds, because credentials are pre-shared and pre-verified,” Khadakbhavi said. “Those few seconds make a big difference when thousands of passengers are moving through the terminal at the same time.” Importantly for consumers, Digi Yatra is free to use. Passengers do not pay any fee to enrol or travel using the platform. The costs of infrastructure and system integration are borne by participating airports, which benefit from faster processing and better crowd management.
Privacy remains a key concern for many travellers, and Digi Yatra’s design aims to address this. The platform follows a decentralised, self-sovereign identity model, with biometric data stored only on the passenger’s own device. Any data shared with airport systems is automatically deleted within 24 hours of the scheduled departure.
Looking ahead, Digi Yatra is also working on international interoperability, including pilots for e-passport-based enrolment aligned with global aviation standards. For now, however, the focus remains firmly on improving the domestic flying experience. “Success for us is when Digi Yatra becomes habitual,” Khadakbhavi said. “When passengers move through airports without queues becoming the norm, we know we’re doing our job.”
“At India’s current pace of air traffic growth, Digi Yatra has moved beyond passenger convenience to become a critical capacity enabler. By replacing manual identity checks with predictable, technology-led flows, airports can unlock latent terminal capacity, especially during peak hours without proportionate physical expansion,” said Lokesh Sharma, Senior Aerospace & Defence Advisor.
Who benefits the most?
Frequent flyers who travel regularly from metro airports
Morning and evening peak-hour travelers
Passengers flying during holiday seasons and long weekends
Digi Yatra in Numbers
Airports live today: 24
New airports being added (FY26): 17
App downloads: 19 million+
Total passenger journeys enabled: 81 million+
Share of domestic departing passengers: ~30%
Time saved at airport entry gates:
Manual ID check: 15–20 seconds per passenger
Digi Yatra verification: ~5 seconds per passenger