Posted on July 19, 2010 by Fiona Hilliard

Tree huggers unite! Paper boarding passes are on their way out.  In just a short time from now, passengers will be using their mobile phones to board an aircraft, with the device being read by a scanner at the departure gate.

The new system means passengers will no longer have to go rooting through all their coat pockets and bags at the departure gate.

Airlines are eager for boarding passes to be eliminated in the same way as the paper plane ticket.

British Airways’ mobile phone boarding pass can be accessed on the iPhone from today when it will be made available on its Heathrow-Edinburgh route.

Air France is already using something similar, but BA have taken the idea and are running further with it – they’ve made it into an iphone application.

BA thinks the mobile phone can carry more than a boarding pass – in fact, just about anything a passenger may require.

The new boarding pass is set to be ready for all domestic destinations at the end of August and for all other short haul routes within the next six months.

The application will be free to anyone who joins BA’s executive club, which in turn it costs nothing to join.

Other new technological developments on the horizon in the travel industry include radio tags on luggage to prevent bags from getting lost in airports.