You may soon use biometrics, not IDs to enter airports
Soon, a mobile phone is all you may need to board domestic flights. The civil aviation ministry is looking to introduce a completely paperless aircraft boarding process using travelers' mobile phones. It's also linking passenger IDs such as Aadhaar and passports to databases of airlines and airports. This would enable passengers to use biometrics to enter terminals rather than ID showing cards.
Under the civil aviation ministry's 'digi yatra' programme, the linked airport databases would reveal whether passengers have passed through check-in and security check phases. Only those passengers whose flights are nearing departure time would be given boarding gate access. Anxious travelers who turn up much in advance would be cut-off, thereby reducing overcrowding. Foreign travelers would, however, require their passports for ID verification.
"We will soon know the indicative cost of the project and time frame in which it can be implemented," said aviation secretary RN Choubey. Biometrics will allow airlines to "know the last level the missing flyer was at in case he does not report for boarding in time," he added. Biometrics will also replace the practice of stamping "security check" on physical boarding passes.
