India’s Civil Aviation Ministry has taken another decisive step toward fully biometric air travel by activating DigiYatra at Surat, Sri Vijayawada, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Navi Mumbai and Nagpur airports on 21 February 2026. Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu and MoS Murlidhar Mohol officiated at the virtual launch, noting that the contact-less platform has already processed more than 16 million domestic passengers at the original seven airports and cut average terminal dwell time by 25 percent.(newindianexpress.com)
DigiYatra links a traveller’s Aadhaar-verified facial biometrics to flight details uploaded in the mobile app. Once enrolled, passengers breeze through dedicated e-gates at the terminal entrance, security and boarding points without showing paper IDs or boarding passes. Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) guards retain supervisory control through live CCTV feeds, while the DigiLocker-based architecture automatically deletes facial templates within 24 hours of the flight, addressing privacy concerns.(newindianexpress.com)
For corporate travel managers the wider rollout is significant: six of India’s fastest-growing secondary airports together handle nearly 20 million passengers annually, many on tight business itineraries. A smoother curb-to-gate experience should reduce missed-flight risk, allow tighter meeting schedules and lower airline turnaround times—benefits that flow straight to productivity and cost savings. Airlines such as IndiGo and Air India Express have already added ‘DigiYatra only’ bag-drop counters at Delhi and Bengaluru and are expected to replicate the model at the new locations.(newindianexpress.com)
![India expands DigiYatra facial-recognition boarding to six more airports]()
Travellers who still need to sort out visa paperwork before experiencing India’s streamlined airports can save time with VisaHQ, whose digital platform guides users through e-Visa or traditional visa applications in just a few clicks. The service’s intuitive dashboard and real-time support—available at https://www.visahq.com/india/—make securing travel documents almost as effortless as walking through a DigiYatra e-gate.
The ministry aims to cover all Tier-1 and most Tier-2 airports by mid-2027, paving the way for full-fledged e-gates at immigration for international departures once data-sharing arrangements with the Home Ministry are finalised. In parallel, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security is drafting regulations that will make biometric boarding voluntary but strongly encouraged, mirroring TSA PreCheck in the United States.(newindianexpress.com)
Business travellers should download the DigiYatra app (iOS/Android) before their next trip, complete Aadhaar e-KYC and upload a selfie plus flight PDF. Frequent-flyer programmes are exploring automatic point accrual for DigiYatra users, hinting at a future where a single biometric token unlocks lounge access, duty-free payments and even multimodal onward travel in India’s smart-city hubs.
DigiYatra links a traveller’s Aadhaar-verified facial biometrics to flight details uploaded in the mobile app. Once enrolled, passengers breeze through dedicated e-gates at the terminal entrance, security and boarding points without showing paper IDs or boarding passes. Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) guards retain supervisory control through live CCTV feeds, while the DigiLocker-based architecture automatically deletes facial templates within 24 hours of the flight, addressing privacy concerns.(newindianexpress.com)
For corporate travel managers the wider rollout is significant: six of India’s fastest-growing secondary airports together handle nearly 20 million passengers annually, many on tight business itineraries. A smoother curb-to-gate experience should reduce missed-flight risk, allow tighter meeting schedules and lower airline turnaround times—benefits that flow straight to productivity and cost savings. Airlines such as IndiGo and Air India Express have already added ‘DigiYatra only’ bag-drop counters at Delhi and Bengaluru and are expected to replicate the model at the new locations.(newindianexpress.com)
Travellers who still need to sort out visa paperwork before experiencing India’s streamlined airports can save time with VisaHQ, whose digital platform guides users through e-Visa or traditional visa applications in just a few clicks. The service’s intuitive dashboard and real-time support—available at https://www.visahq.com/india/—make securing travel documents almost as effortless as walking through a DigiYatra e-gate.
The ministry aims to cover all Tier-1 and most Tier-2 airports by mid-2027, paving the way for full-fledged e-gates at immigration for international departures once data-sharing arrangements with the Home Ministry are finalised. In parallel, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security is drafting regulations that will make biometric boarding voluntary but strongly encouraged, mirroring TSA PreCheck in the United States.(newindianexpress.com)
Business travellers should download the DigiYatra app (iOS/Android) before their next trip, complete Aadhaar e-KYC and upload a selfie plus flight PDF. Frequent-flyer programmes are exploring automatic point accrual for DigiYatra users, hinting at a future where a single biometric token unlocks lounge access, duty-free payments and even multimodal onward travel in India’s smart-city hubs.
