Digi Yatra starts international passenger trials at seven airports using e-passport credentials

Digi Yatra, the facial recognition based boarding system used on domestic flights, began trials for international passengers on November 1 at seven airports: Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Cochin, Mumbai, Chennai and Amritsar, the Civil Aviation Ministry said in a Press Information Bureau release. The trials run from November to December 2026 and are open to Indian nationals holding e-passports who are travelling on select international flights operated by Air India and IndiGo. The ministry said feedback from the trial period will shape a wider rollout in 2027.

The international version works differently from the domestic one. Passengers create an e-passport based Verifiable Credential in the Digi Yatra app by scanning the passport's Machine Readable Zone, reading its embedded chip over a compatible phone's NFC, taking a selfie and verifying the details. The credential sits in the Digi Yatra wallet on the passenger's own device and can be used at terminal entry points, Security Hold Areas and boarding gates wherever the airport has the required equipment. BusinessLine reported that the trial covers all international destinations served by Air India but only select IndiGo routes.

The service does not replace any existing checks. Passengers still have to carry their travel documents and complete airline document checks and immigration. Hindustan Times, which first reported the plan in September, said officials had described immigration integration as a later stage that would need software upgrades and security assessments. The trial has also grown from the five airports HT reported then to seven.

According to the ministry, Digi Yatra has more than 26.5 million users and has enabled over 110 million journeys across 39 domestic airports, with 25 more domestic airports planned by 2027. Digi Yatra Foundation chief executive Suresh Khadakbhavi said in remarks reported by The Times of India that interoperability with IATA's One ID and ICAO's Public Key Directory would be key to using e-passport credentials across borders.

For India's digital public infrastructure, the move is a test of whether a wallet held, device side identity credential can work at international departures, where the stakes for identity assurance are higher than on domestic flights. How passengers respond during these two months, and whether immigration is eventually connected, will decide how far the 2027 rollout goes.