British passport holders returning to the UK will no longer need to show their passports at airport e-gates, as UK airports introduce upgraded 'contactless borders'. The new system uses facial recognition to scan returning passengers' faces and match them against passport photos already held on record, replacing the traditional document check.
Queues expected to shrink by up to 25 per cent
The upgraded system is hoped to significantly reduce queues by up to 25 per cent. Phil Douglas, the director general of Border Force, said: "It will mean we have a more secure border and a much faster transit through the airport. It’s quicker, it’s more modern, it’s more secure."
The gradual rollout begins today (October 6), with the upgraded system launching at Birmingham and East Midlands airports over the next few weeks. By early next year, the 'contactless borders' will be introduced across other UK airports that already have e-gates in place, including Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Glasgow, Heathrow, London City, Luton, Manchester, Newcastle and Stansted.
How the new system works
To streamline the process, airlines will send passport photos of their British passengers to border control at each airport on the day of arrival, which will be uploaded onto the e-gates system. Douglas told the Times: "Because we know who’s coming and can load up that gallery of who is arriving, it’s not a one in 60 million check, it’s a one in tens of thousands check [because the system only needs to check against the passports of passengers travelling on that particular day]."
Passengers who are unable to be recognised at the e-gate under the new system will need to revert to the current method and scan their passport instead. If this fails, they will need to go to a manned border control desk for their passport to be checked.
Expansion plans for other nationalities
While the system will initially be launched for British passport holders passing through the e-gates at UK airports, there are plans to expand it to other nationalities with biometric passports, including those in Europe, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and the US. The change aims to ease travel back into the UK and avoid border control chaos.
