DIGIYATRA

The Consultative Committee meeting of the Ministry of Civil Aviation was held in New Delhi. The topic for discussion was ‘DIGI YATRA’ to make certain valuable suggestions about the project.

ABOUT DIGI YATRA

• Digi Yatra is the initiative by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Air travellers can use facial recognition technology to enter any airport in the country.
• This initiative is taken to promote paperless and hassle-free air travel  There will be one-time verification at the departure airport when travelling for the first time using the ID.
•  After successful verification, facial recognition biometrics will be captured and stored in Digi Travel ID.
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation intends to digitalize ticket booking, airport entry and boarding pass security check-in.
• According to the ministry, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has plans to launch the initiative in Kolkata, Varanasi, Pune and Vijayawada airports.

Other initiatives for robust Civil Aviation:

UDAN

• The full form of UDAN is 'Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik'. Its main objective is to make air travel affordable and accessible. The scheme is a part of the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP), launched in June 2016. It is funded jointly by the Government of India and the state governments. 
• The Centre plans to operationalise the 100 unserved and underserved airports and start at least 1,000 air routes under a regional connectivity scheme.
• This scheme is aimed at enhancing the connectivity to remote and regional areas of the country and making air travel affordable to middle-class people.
• Under the scheme, nearly half of the seats in Udan flights are offered at subsidised fares, and the participating carriers are provided with a certain amount of viability gap funding (VGF) – an amount shared between the Centre and the concerned states.
• The scheme will run for 10 years and can be extended thereafter. The airlines participating are selected via a competitive bidding process.

Feature of the UDAN scheme

• Improving the air transport infrastructure in all parts of the country with a special focus on remote areas.
• Making 425 unserved and underserved airports operational in the country.
• Improving the economy of the country by facilitating faster connectivity.
• Creating job opportunities in the aviation sector.
• Making air services available at lower prices to the citizen.

UDAN 1.0

• Under this phase, five airline companies were awarded 128 flight routes to the 70 airports.

UDAN 2.0

• This came in 2018 when the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced 73 underserved and unserved airports.
• For the first time in phase 2, the helipad was also connected.

UDAN 3.0

• Bringing several routes in the Northeast region under the ambit of UDAN.
• Inclusion of seaplanes for connecting water aerodromes.
• Inclusion of tourism route under UDAN 3 in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism.

UDAN 4.0

• The 4th round of UDAN was launched in December 2019 with a special emphasis on North-Eastern Regions, Hilly States, and Islands.
• The airports that had already been developed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) are given higher priority for the award of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) under the Scheme.
• Under UDAN 4, the operation of helicopters and seaplanes is also been incorporated.

NABH Nirman Initiative

• Currently, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has 124 airports. The new scheme proposes to expand it and increase the traffic handling capacity of airports by more than five times the airport capacity to handle a billion trips a year.
• The project aims to construct 100 new airports in the next 10 years, by investing about Rs 2 trillion.
• The key initiative aims at improving passenger amenities, promoting cargo handling facilities and early operationalization of 56 new airports under the UDAN key initiative, improving regional connectivity and improving passenger services in a big way.
• The three key aspects of NABH Nirman are fair and equitable land acquisition, a long-term master plan for airport and regional development, and balanced economics for all stakeholders.