A strike by Digi Yatra staff at Surat International Airport on Friday disrupted biometric check-ins for nearly 1,000 passengers, forcing a shift to manual entry processes. Around 40 employees walked off the job over unpaid salaries, spotlighting deeper issues in vendor selection and contract oversight by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Sources revealed that AAI had awarded the Digi Yatra operations contract to a vendor whose GST registration had been cancelled earlier this year. Without a valid GST number, AAI was unable to process vendor payments—resulting in delayed staff salaries. This marks the second lapse, following a previously cancelled tender for the same service.

Passengers praised Digi Yatra’s seamless experience but expressed frustration at the sudden disruption. Of the 3,000 daily flyers from Surat, 800–1,000 use Digi Yatra.

Digi Yatra operates as a not-for-profit digital public infrastructure, managed by the Digi Yatra Foundation (DYF), with funding from major airports and the AAI. Though not designed for profit, the platform holds long-term potential for monetization through AI-driven services.

The incident highlights a critical need for better financial governance, contract vetting, and operational accountability, even in tech-forward public projects.