The DigiYatra airport expansion is set to nearly double the platform’s footprint, taking India’s biometric, facial-recognition-based airport entry system from 38 airports today to 65 airports by 2027. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has confirmed that 27 additional airports will be brought onto the platform, alongside new greenfield airports at Navi Mumbai, Jewar (Noida International Airport) and Bhogapuram that are being built DigiYatra-ready from day one. With more than 10 crore (100 million) passenger journeys already completed and over 2.4 crore app downloads, the expansion marks a shift from a novelty feature at a handful of metro airports to a near-default way of moving through Indian airports.
From 38 to 65: The Expansion Roadmap
DigiYatra launched at select airports in December 2022 and has since scaled to 38 operational airports as of mid-2026. Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu has said the platform will expand to 27 more airports “by next year,” taking the total network to 65 airports by 2027 — a figure DigiYatra Foundation CEO Suresh Khadakbhavi has also confirmed, describing FY27 as the year for expanded airport coverage, simplified onboarding, multilingual support and deeper airline collaboration. The scale of adoption already achieved is notable: the platform has facilitated more than 10 crore seamless journeys, and the ministry says it has cut average airport entry processing time from around 15 seconds to just 5 seconds per passenger by replacing manual document checks with facial recognition at e-gates.
| Metric | Current (2026) | Target (2027) |
|---|---|---|
| Airports live on DigiYatra | 38 | 65 |
| Passenger journeys completed | 10+ crore | Growing |
| App downloads | 2.4+ crore | Growing |
| Languages supported | 11 | 22 (targeted) |
| Average entry processing time | ~5 seconds | Further reductions targeted |
| International passenger use | Proof-of-concept complete | Live trials planned |
How DigiYatra Works
DigiYatra is built around a one-time registration process: a passenger downloads the app, signs up using Aadhaar-based identity verification and a face scan, and creates a digital identity credential. At the airport, this credential is used at three checkpoints — the entry gate, security screening, and the boarding gate — each equipped with cameras running facial recognition technology (FRT) that match the passenger’s face against their registered credential and flight booking. In practice, this means a traveller’s face effectively becomes their boarding pass and ID for that journey, eliminating repeated manual document checks at each stage. Crucially, the system is designed around a decentralised, consent-based data model: biometric and travel data is encrypted and stored on the passenger’s own device rather than on central government or airline servers, and it is shared only temporarily with the specific departure airport for verification during that trip, after which it is not retained centrally.
New Greenfield Airports Joining the Network
Rather than retrofitting DigiYatra into existing airports as an afterthought, India’s newest greenfield airport projects are being built with the platform integrated from the outset. Navi Mumbai International Airport, Noida International Airport at Jewar, and Bhogapuram International Airport in Andhra Pradesh — all expected to become operational around this period — have been designated as fully DigiYatra-enabled from launch, according to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. This approach is notable because it avoids the retrofit costs and phased-rollout delays that airports joining the network later typically face, and it signals that facial-recognition-based processing is now considered standard infrastructure for new Indian airports rather than an optional upgrade.
Privacy and Data Storage: Addressing the Concerns
Any large-scale biometric identity system invites scrutiny over privacy, and DigiYatra has faced its share of questions since launch. The Ministry’s stated architecture addresses some of the most common concerns directly: passenger data is encrypted, stored locally on the user’s device rather than in a central government database, and shared with airports only for a limited window tied to the specific journey. The system is opt-in — travellers without the app can still use traditional manual verification — and enrolment requires explicit consent tied to Aadhaar-linked verification. That said, independent privacy researchers and digital rights groups have continued to raise structural questions about long-term data governance as the system scales to tens of millions of additional users and expands into international travel, including how airport operators and airline partners handle any data they temporarily receive, and what recourse exists if a mismatch or verification error affects a traveller. As adoption grows toward 65 airports, sustained transparency about audit mechanisms and data-handling practices will likely remain a live public discussion.
International Trials: The Next Frontier
DigiYatra’s next major milestone is international deployment. The DigiYatra Foundation has said the platform successfully completed a proof-of-concept aligned with International Air Transport Association (IATA) standards and is now moving toward live trials for international passengers. This is a materially harder problem than domestic rollout, since it requires interoperability with foreign immigration and airline systems, alignment with international data-protection frameworks, and cooperation from airport operators and carriers who currently rely on zone-wise manual boarding procedures to manage aircraft turnaround times. According to the Foundation’s leadership, wider adoption of biometric boarding gates is expected to accelerate as passenger volumes grow and airport processes become more digitised, but actual deployment speed will depend heavily on airline and destination-country readiness rather than on DigiYatra’s domestic infrastructure alone.
Language Access: Beyond English and Hindi
Language accessibility has been an explicit part of the expansion plan. The app currently supports 11 languages, and the government has stated an aim to add 11 additional regional languages, bringing coverage toward all 22 scheduled Indian languages. This matters for genuine nationwide adoption: as the platform expands beyond metro hubs into smaller regional airports serving more linguistically diverse populations, an English-and-Hindi-only interface would meaningfully limit usability for a large share of India’s air travellers, particularly first-time flyers unfamiliar with biometric check-in systems.
Why This Expansion Matters
The scale of the push reflects where Indian aviation is headed. The Civil Aviation Ministry projects annual passenger traffic across Indian airports will reach 50 crore by 2030 and nearly double again to around 100 crore by 2040. Manual document verification simply does not scale to those volumes without either dramatically expanding airport staffing or accepting worse congestion and longer queues. DigiYatra, alongside complementary digital initiatives such as self-baggage drop facilities, upgraded air traffic control automation and AI-powered digital twins of airport operations, is positioned by the government as core infrastructure for absorbing that growth rather than a convenience feature layered on top of it.
Limitations of This Data
- The 65-airport target for 2027 is a stated government and DigiYatra Foundation goal, not a guaranteed outcome; rollout timelines for individual airports can shift.
- International live trials had not yet launched for the general public as of this writing; only proof-of-concept testing had been confirmed as complete.
- Passenger journey and download figures are cumulative platform totals reported by the ministry and foundation, not independently audited third-party statistics.
- Privacy and data-governance practices, while described by the government as privacy-by-design, have not been subject to a widely publicised independent third-party security audit at the time of writing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which airports will get DigiYatra next?
The Civil Aviation Ministry has committed to adding 27 more airports to the existing 38, taking the total to 65 by 2027. New greenfield airports including Navi Mumbai, Jewar (Noida International Airport) and Bhogapuram are also being launched as fully DigiYatra-enabled. Exact city-by-city rollout schedules are typically announced by the Ministry and DigiYatra Foundation closer to each airport’s go-live date.
Is DigiYatra mandatory to fly in India?
No. DigiYatra is an optional, opt-in facility. Passengers who do not wish to use facial recognition can continue to use traditional manual document verification at participating airports.
Where is my biometric data stored when I use DigiYatra?
According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, DigiYatra data is encrypted and stored on the passenger’s own device, not on a central government server. It is shared with the departure airport only for a limited period around the specific journey for verification purposes.
Can international travellers use DigiYatra?
Not yet at full scale. The DigiYatra Foundation has completed an IATA-aligned proof-of-concept for international passenger use and is preparing for live trials, but the system’s core rollout remains focused on domestic travel within India for now.
Bottom Line
The DigiYatra airport expansion to 65 airports by 2027, backed by over 10 crore completed journeys and new DigiYatra-native greenfield airports, signals that facial-recognition-based airport processing is moving from a metro-city convenience to a nationwide standard. The bigger unresolved questions — international interoperability, expanded language access, and long-term data governance at scale — will determine whether the platform matches its ambitious passenger-growth targets as smoothly as its rollout numbers suggest.
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