Airport designers are paying more and more attention to the incorporation of touch-screen check-in facilities, it has been claimed.

The British Airport Authority (BAA), administrator of seven UK airports, claimed that check-in processes were being simplified by factoring in rapid touch-screen machines that would make travel easier.

Destinations like Spain, unrivalled in popularity with UK holidaymakers, could be brought into ever closer and easier reach by reducing the long queues at airport check-ins.

Hailing the spread of the touch-screen option, a BAA spokesperson said: "We have a number of generic ones which a number of different airlines use, but most of the major airlines now have their own."

"The feedback we’re getting back from them is that significantly more and more people are using them," he added.

According to the BAA, the design of Heathrow’s new Terminal Five has taken into account the need for rapid check-in facilities, aiming to alleviate the queuing and crowds the busy airport has become known for.