Starting in October at London's Heathrow Airport, new iris recognition technology will enable selected passengers to look into a video camera at the passport control checkpoint and have their identity verified within seconds. The Heathrow program will be . . .
Starting in October at London's Heathrow Airport, new iris recognition technology will enable selected passengers to look into a video camera at the passport control checkpoint and have their identity verified within seconds. The Heathrow program will be the first large-scale passenger processing trial in the world to rely entirely on biometric identification. PASSENGERS TAKING PART in the Heathrow trial will be pre-cleared by the U.K. Immigration Service. Passengers will still be required to carry passports but their permission to enter the U.K. will be based on the real-time verification of their iris pattern. The program is aimed at expediting passenger arrivals and reducing operating costs.

Up to 2,000 North American citizens - customers of Virgin Atlantic and British Airways who travel frequently to the United Kingdom - will be able to enroll in the trial.

The so-called "one-stop" identification process uses iris-recognition technology to identify passengers at all steps in the travel process. Powerful software translates the iris pattern into a frequent-flier number or passport number, and then communicates this with airport and airline computers to simplify check-in, baggage check, boarding and passport control.