Digi Yatra To Be Extended To Chennai International Airport From 2027
Passengers who wish to use the digi yatra process should use a separate mobile app for it to scan their e-passport. The details in the passport would be electronically verified using the chip in the passport.
CHENNAI: The Chennai airport will extend the ‘digi yatra’, scheme, a digital mode of checking passengers, to the international airport from 2027. The airport authorities have started a trial run of the scheme from November 1 and it will continue till December.
At present, Indigo Airlines passengers going to Dubai and Colombo are undergoing the trial for digi yatra which has been in operation in the domestic airport for the last two years. The checking by digi yatra system will ensure that the process is carried out quickly, avoiding delay.
Since the scheme was found useful for quick clearance and avoided delay for the domestic passengers, those using the international terminal, too, demanded that the process be introduced for them. Accepting the demand, the airport authorities have decided to extend the process to the international airport.
The process, introduced as a trial for Indigo Airlines passengers going to Dubai and Colombo, will be gradually extended to passengers of other international destinations. The digi yatra process will be fully introduced for all international passengers from January 1.
Passengers who wish to use the digi yatra process should use a separate mobile app for it to scan their e-passport. The details in the passport would be electronically verified using the chip in the passport. The digital identity will be saved in the passengers’ digi yatra valet in his Android phone. Separate staff will be appointed to guide the passengers on how to use the system.
The other mandatory documents will be verified as usual and the immigration process will be the same. The immigration process will be the same since the Chennai airport introduced the fast track immigration-traveller trusted programme (FTI-TTP) in August 2024 to enable the passengers to clear immigration quickly, without waiting in long queues for hours.
The digi yatra system is already in place in domestic airports to avoid the use of paper documents. The passengers will have to show their faces for the digi yatra scheme, introduced in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Varanasi, Pune and Vijayawada. The faces of the passengers will be visible on the digi yatra screen and tick marks will appear and the automatic gates will open for them to enter the airport.
Though CISF staff will be standing nearby, they will watch the happenings and not check the passengers.
