Heathrow airport is undergoing trials of an iris recognition system which could eventually see eyeballs replacing passports and tickets as a means of checking in.

Over 2000 North American airline passengers will be able to check in and pass through passport control simply by looking into the iris-scanning camera, which will verify their identity within seconds.

EyeTicket, the company behind the technology, said that the Heathrow trial in October would be the first large-scale test of its kind to use biometric identification techniques.

The Jetstream scanning system will issue passport and ticket numbers, frequent flier details and, quite possibly, air miles information to Virgin and British Airways staff. The software also works in tandem with existing facilities to simplify the check in, baggage check, boarding and passport control processes.

The scheme is backed by the International Air Transport Association, which plans to roll out the technology to around 40 major airports if the trials prove successful.