The government will be issuing an "all approved" template for "paperless and hassle free" Digi Yatra by the end of the month, reports ToI. According to the report, all it will take to board a domestic flight would be a smart phone for e-Aadhaar and biometric based authentication. Once the template is issued, airports will be free to implement it and early adoption is expected at Bangalore and Hyderabad as soon as July. These are the two airports that have already conducted successful pilots for the paperless boarding process, the TOI quoted aviation secretary R N Choubey. The Airports Authority of India has prepared bid documents and is expected to implement the project at major airports by the end of this fiscal, with AAI airports at Kolkata Ahmedabad and Vijaywada expected to be among the first. This is supposed to be an additional and non-mandatory feature and the existing paper-based processes will continue for those not opting to link their airline tickets with their Aadhaar. The TOI describes the process as follows: Under this system, only a mobile will be needed to board domestic flights to show e-boarding cards for scan at security check and boarding gate by those who link Aadhaar to air tickets at the time of booking. Their biometric authentication will confirm their identity, doing away with the need for paper I-cards. Apart from benefits to passengers, the Aadhaar-based system will have several pluses for airlines and airport operators. The ‘smart' airports will have some smart entry…
