AAI appoints support staff to assist passengers using DigiYatra at Chennai Airport

CHENNAI: In response to complaints that many passengers were having difficulty using the DigiYatra devices, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has deployed 100 private contract staff at Chennai Airport to provide assistance. According to a Daily Thanthi report, domestic terminals at the city airport have been operating with the DigiYatra system for the past 10 months, which allows passengers to board flights without paper documents. The passengers can enter the gates just by passing through facial recognition scanners installed at the airport.

However, many passengers claimed that there has been difficulty in operating the devices properly which has led to delays in boarding. Some passengers, especially the elderly are unaware of how to operate it, leading to chaos during travel. As a result of this, passengers end up being redirected to the manual verification lanes, causing a lot of delay.



In an effort to address the problem, the AAI has appointed 100 trained private contract staff to assist passengers using DigiYatra. Authorities said that the staff will work in shifts and provide round-the-clock support ensuring smoother passenger movement. The DigiYatra initiative was first introduced at airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Varanasi, Pune and Vijayawada after which it was implemented at Chennai's domestic terminals in June last year.

Under this system, passengers can pre-register their photo and ID details on the DigiYatra app. While boarding a flight, instead of showing physical identification, they can merely scan their face at the DigiYatra kiosks for verification..