Aadhar enable entry to be introduce at airport shortly

DAINIK NATION BUREAU

An Aadhaar-enabled entry system is likely to be introduce at the Bengaluru airport shortly. It will reduce the time taken for screening passengers.

According to aerodrome operator, the Bangaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL) has sought proposals for having ‘Aadhaar enabled entry and biometric boarding system’. It comes at a time when the civil aviation ministry is working on ‘Digiyatra’, an initiative that aims to enable paperless travel by way of using biometric systems for entering airports and boarding flights.

As per the proposal, the airport would put in place a backbone infrastructure and software solution along with e-gates with passport and QR (Quick Response) code readers. As per the plan aadhar enable entry and biometric boarding system will be put in place by December 31, 2018. It will be implemented in three phases i.e. Aadhar system to be introduced by March 30, 2018 for three domestic cariers-jet Airwarys, Spicejet and Air Asia India. All domestic flights would be covered by October while the facility would be extended to international flights by December next year.

A system is being developed wherein a passenger provides his Aadhaar number at the time of booking the ticket and gains entry into the airport after producing the e-ticket as well as presenting biometrics in the form of a “finger/iris/face scan”. At the next three check points-pre security area, passenger screening and boarding gates– the e-ticket is scanned each time to gain entry before boarding the flight.

It will enable a passenger to be verified in under 5 seconds at every check point right up to the boarding gate, completing the screening process in 10 minutes compared with average time of 25 minutes. It will also help more passengers enter through the same gate. In February the bangaluru airport had initiated a pilot project for aadhar based entry of passengers.