Gatwick Airport will become the first airport to permanently use facial recognition, meaning passengers will be able to walk onto a plane without having to show their boarding pass or passport.
The technology, revealed by The Telegraph, is set to use this technology on eight gates by 2022, following trials the airport conducted with EasyJet.
Passengers will have to opt into being scanned, which will confirm that they are matched with their boarding pass and passport using iris recognition - technology detects the unique patterns of in the human eye.
The airport claims that this technology is reliable even if the passenger is wearing glasses or contact lenses.
However, passengers will still need to bring their passport to the airport; the BBC reports that a boarding pass will still be necessary to get through security, and that people will need to scan their passports at the departure gate in order for the system to use it to match photos to faces.
"One of the major benefits for passengers will be the open gate-room concept that Gatwick will be able to enable with this technology. This will allow passengers to spend more time enjoying the shops or having a last minute coffee before boarding their flight," Gatwick airport told The Telegraph.
Children would also need consent from a parent or guardian before interacting with facial recognition, the airport has said, although it is currently unclear what the age limit is.
Although there are concerns from privacy advocates, who are unsure whether passengers will realise the technology is opt-in, Gatwick airport is adamant that there are sufficient precautions in place.
Speaking to the BBC, a spokesperson for Gatwick said that the technology was designed to be "compliant with all data protection law" and passengers could choose to have passports checked by humans
"Our next passenger trial will take place in the next six months and no data will be stored - instead it will be held momentarily while the identity check takes place, only a matter of seconds," they said.