Priority plane boarding for passengers who scan

Under the new security system launched today, travellers will be able to speed up their progress onto planes by allowing immigration officers to take scans of their fingerprints, eyes and face.

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The biometric information will then allow their details to be checked by scanners as they check-in and board and cut the time on security checks.

A second system also being launched will allow passengers who are reluctant to give their full biometric details to check-in more quickly if they agree to register a solitary fingerprint.

However, travellers will still have to go through conventional passport checks.

A key aim of the changes is to boost airport security by making it impossible for people to swap their boarding card and ensuring that the passenger who gets on to a plane is the same person who checked in.

The result should be reduced delays for passengers which have become an increasing problem in the wake of the September 11 attacks and this summer's terrorist alert at Heathrow.

Opponents warn that the technology is an unnecessary extension of state surveillance. However, ministers and airport managers insisted it would help passengers by accelerating their progress and enabling security checks to be targeted more effectively.

Tony Douglas, chief executive of Heathrow's owner BAA, was joined at today's launch by immigration minister-Liam Byrne.

Mr Douglas said the innovations represented a significant step forward: "The systems that these trials are developing will reduce passenger queuing and further strengthen aviation security."

The fingerprint check-in system is called miSense. After giving their initial scans, which are stored and can be used for future flights, passengers can progress to the departure lounge by running their finger over a scanner.

They will also be able to pass through the boarding gate in the same way, although the legal requirement to show a passport will still apply.

Passengers can use the more developed scheme, known as miSenseplus. It uses prints of all 10 fingers, as well as eye and face scans.

This information is linked electronically to the traveller's passport details, allowing them to pass through passport control in a fast channel by giving a brief scan of their finger and face.

The trials, on routes served by Emirates and Cathay Pacific, will run until 1 February.

The results will be used to help Britain research a fasttrack system that is already operating in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Bahrain and Kuwait, which identifies passengers before check-in and links airlines with international security databases.