The Home Office confirmed the minimum age for using the e-gates will be lowered from 10 to eight across more than 290 e-gates at UK airports and juxtaposed border controls in Europe. Children must still be at least 120 centimetres tall to use the biometric scanners and will need to be accompanied by an adult.
The change is expected to allow an additional 1.5 million children a year to pass through automated border controls, easing congestion at peak travel times.
E-gates are installed at 13 UK airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted, Birmingham, Glasgow and Newcastle, as well as at juxtaposed border points in Paris and Brussels.
