Digi Yatra opens to international flyers at seven airports in beta

Digi Yatra, India's face-recognition system for paperless entry and boarding at airports, has begun trials for international passengers at seven airports: Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Cochin and Amritsar. The beta phase, announced on October 27, 2026, is open only to Indian nationals holding e-passports who are flying abroad on Air India or IndiGo. Reports say the public trial formally goes live on November 1, 2026, and will run until December, after which feedback will shape a wider rollout planned for 2027.

Since its launch for domestic flights, Digi Yatra has changed how many Indians move through airports. Instead of showing an ID card and boarding pass to a guard at the terminal door, a registered passenger looks into a camera, and the gate opens. The same face check is repeated at security and at the boarding gate. Until now, that convenience stopped at the international terminal, where passengers face longer queues and more document checks.

The trial is the first step towards changing that. Because international travel requires a passport, the system relies on India's new e-passports, which carry a chip holding the holder's details and photograph. Reading that chip through the phone and matching it with a live selfie gives the airport a verified digital identity before the passenger reaches the terminal. That is why the beta is limited to e-passport holders: older passports without a chip cannot be checked the same way.

It is important to be clear about what the trial does not do. Immigration officers will still check every international traveller, and airlines will still check documents at the counter or gate. What Digi Yatra can speed up is the airport's own checkpoints: the terminal entrance, the security area and boarding. At busy airports such as Delhi and Mumbai, the queue at the terminal door alone can take a long time during peak hours.

The platform has grown quickly on domestic routes. The foundation that runs it has previously reported about 19 million app downloads and more than 77 million journeys across 24 airports, and has set a target of 80% adoption by 2028. Extending it to international flights is a natural next step, and also brings questions about data. Its operators have long presented privacy as central to the platform, and international use will put that promise to a wider test.

Short-term: Eligible travellers flying Air India or IndiGo from the seven airports can try the system on their next international trip, but should still arrive early and carry all documents, since immigration and airline checks stay unchanged and the equipment may not be ready at every gate.

Long-term: If the trial works, international passengers could get the same quick face-based entry that domestic flyers have, and more airlines and airports could join in 2027. It also gives travellers a further reason to apply for or renew into an e-passport.

Who is affected: Indian international travellers, especially frequent flyers and families on holiday routes; Air India and IndiGo; the seven airport operators; and holders of older passports, who cannot join until they move to an e-passport.

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