Aadhaar-linked seamless air travel from next year

NEW DELHI: Come 2018 and domestic flyers out of Kolkata, Ahmebadad and Vijayawada will whiz through airports if they link their Aadhaar number to air tickets at the time of booking. Airports Authority of India (AAI) will implement the government's ambitious " digi yatra" programme as a pilot project early next year from these three airports and then roll out this Aadhaar-based seamless travel experience at other airports.

Under the Aadhaar-based system, flyers will use stored biometrics to prove identity to enter terminals; their Aadhaar-linked airline database will show what flight they are booked on and similarly linked airport databases will show they have been security screened and allowed access to boarding gate closer to the flight departure time. These three processes will eventually eliminate the need to show paper ID cards, paper tickets and boarding cards.

AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra said: "This solution provides the passenger an option to enter Aadhaar number while booking. At the airport entry, an E-gate will read the ticket's bar code containing ticket information and Aadhaar information. The system will authenticate travel details and the passenger will present biometric for Aadhaar authentication. On successful authentication, the E-gate will open."

"Thereafter the passenger can access services like check-in, security check and boarding using QR Code or biometric. Passengers opting for an identity other than Aadhaar, will have to go through the manual process of verification by CISF at the entry gate. Digi yatra will enable more services to be delivered as self-service," Mohapatra added.