Move could mark end of iris recognition system
Trials of facial recognition immigration gates at Stansted and Manchester airports are to be extended to ten UK terminals by August this year.
The face tests are designed to cut queues at arrivals and improve border control.
They could replace the current iris tests passengers can undergo.
The gates can be used by any British or European passenger carrying an e-passport with an electronic chip.
The system scans passengers' faces and checks them against their digital passport photo and has been used by nearly 160,000 passengers at Stansted airport since December.
The UK Border Agency, which is running the trials in partnership with the airports and BAA, said passengers who have changed their appearance since their passport photo was taken will not pose a problem.
The new system measures points on a person's face which do not change.
The gates also undertake checks against security watchlists, as well as checking passports for evidence of tampering.
Passengers using the system are also subject to random manual checks.
Unlike the IRIS recognition scheme (which is in place at several UK airports and allows passengers to bypass arrivals queues by using a separate queue), no pre-registration is needed to use the gates.
The only requirements are that the passenger must by from the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA), and be carrying a biometric passport.
17m have so far been issued in the UK since they were introduced in 2006.
The IRIS scheme has received mixed reviews since it was introduced.
http://ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk