NEW DELHI: Marking a major milestone for India’s digital public infrastructure, the Digi Yatra app has facilitated more than 10 crore seamless journeys across airports in the country. The facial recognition based system enables passengers to enter airports without the need for physical documents. According to an official release, the app has recorded more than 2.4 crore downloads across iOS and Android platforms since its launch. “The platform stands as one of the most successful digital innovations in global aviation today,” it said. By replacing manual document verification, the platform has reduced average airport entry processing time from 15 seconds to just five seconds per passenger. This faster throughput has significantly optimised terminal infrastructure, reduced congestion and minimised manual processing overheads. “Furthermore, by eliminating physical boarding passes, the initiative supports environmental sustainability by saving thousands of sheets of paper daily across participating airports,” the release added. Reflecting on the milestone, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said, “It reflects the growing trust passengers are placing in seamless, paperless and contactless travel. The scale of Digi Yatra’s adoption comes at a critical juncture. Daily domestic passenger traffic, which averaged below 2 lakh passengers in 2014, has now crossed the 5 lakh mark on numerous occasions over the last three years. “The annual passenger traffic across Indian airports is projected to reach 50 crore by 2030 and double to nearly 100 crore by 2040. To effectively manage this exponential growth, we are adopting multiple digital solutions such as Digi Yatra, Self-Baggage Drop Facility, augmentation of Air Traffic Control automation systems, the AirSewa portal for grievance redressal and AI powered digital twins to optimise airport operations.” Naidu added, “While many nations continue to evaluate the large scale deployment of biometric passenger processing, India has successfully operationalised and scaled Digi Yatra within a remarkably