(a) whether the Government proposes to make it mandatory for passengers to book air tickets by providing unique IDs like Pan Card, Aadhaar Card or Passport;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) whether the Government has consulted the stakeholders before taking the initiative forward and if so, the details thereof?
The Minister of State (IC) in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION
(Shri Hardeep Singh Puri)
(a) to (c) No Sir. There is no need for any ID at the time of booking of domestic air ticket. However, at the time of check -in, an ID is required. Further, Ministry of Civil Aviation has taken up the ''Digi Yatra'' initiative which envisages seamless and hassle-free passenger processing at Indian Airports, without the need for verification of ticket and ID at multiple touch points. Passengers can choose to enroll themselves in this program for a seamless travel experience. Identification and validation of his/her ticket is to be done by a biometric system. The system discourages the use of paper, however, option of manual procedure is also envisaged in this programme. This facility does not insist upon use of Aadhaar, however, a choice to use Aadhaar card as one of the identity proof is available. Accordingly, DGCA has issued Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) Section III, Series M, Part-VII, titled as "Implementation of E-Boarding Process (Digi Yatra) after stakeholder consultations. Digi Yatra initiative is scheduled to be rolled out in a phased manner starting from December 2019. In first phase, Airports at Kolkata, Pune, Vijayawada, Varanasi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Cochin, Mumbai and Delhi will be taken up for implementing Digi Yatra.