Board your Heathrow f light... without showing a passport

‘Face matched to your documents’

PASSENGERS flying from Heathrow will no longer have to show a passport at check-in from this summer.

Britain’s largest airport is installing permanent facial recognition technology in the hope that travellers spend less time going through checks.

Boarding passes will also no longer be needed.

With more than 78million passengers a year travelling through Heathrow, the technology will aim to reduce the time holidaymakers spend going through.

The £50million project will mean travellers going to automated kiosks to scan their passport and have their photo taken, according to The Times.

The photo will then ‘match’ the person’s face to the document and their travel details.

While the airport already uses facial recognition when passengers enter the country using biometric e-gates, it will be the first time a British airport has used such advanced technology at every stage of passengers’ departure from the UK.

Gatwick, Britain’s second largest airport, said it is also looking into using the technology and will run a second trial next month. Those travelling from Heathrow are required to show their passports at least three times on departure – on check-in or bag drop, security and before boarding the plane.

The airport’s management said that the facial recognition system was more reliable than manual checks. Jonathan Coen, Heathrow customer relations and service director, said: ‘As our passenger numbers continue to grow, we must look for innovative ways to make it easier and quicker for them to travel through Heathrow with choice, whilst keeping our airport secure.

‘Biometrics are key to helping us do that and we are really excited about the biggest rollout of this equipment at any UK airport.

‘With this technology we’ll be able to offer passengers choice on how they travel through our airport, with colleagues on hand to guide passengers that require it.’

In comparison to other major international airports, Britain is behind on the technology.

Alex Macheras, an aviation consultant, said: ‘Major American airports already have this and Asia is light years ahead in technology.

‘From the point of view of convenience it undoubtedly works, although customers will have concerns about how their data is protected and airports must be transparent about this.’

Facial recognition systems in the US are being introduced for all international passengers in which faces are compared to a central database and passports do not need to be shown at check-in.

British Airways has said the move towards biometric boarding in the US has meant the time taken to board flights at airports there has halved.