BAA will not be fingerprinting passengers at Heathrow's Ternminal 5 (T5), which opens on Thursday.

The airport operator had hoped to fingerprint T5 domestic-flight passengers and international passengers transferring on to domestic flights at the west London airport from the start of business at the new £4.3 billion terminal.

But the Information Commissioner's Office was concerned the fingerprinting could breach the Data Protection Act.

In a statement BAA said: "Following a meeting with all relevant parties, including the Information Commissioner and the Border and Immigration Agency, the introduction of fingerprinting for domestic passengers and international passengers transferring on to domestic flights at Heathrow will be temporarily delayed.

"BAA will be opening Terminal 5 using a photographic identification process during this time which is already in place. We will be working closely with the Information Commissioner and the Home Office over the next few weeks to agree the best approach going forward."

The new terminal, which was bitterly opposed by local residents and green groups, has been built following a record-breaking and costly four-year public inquiry which ran from 1995 to 1999.

BA's first woman pilot, Captain Lynn Barton, 51, will be the commander of the first flight to arrive at T5 - BA026 from Hong Kong, which is due to touch down at 4.50am on Thursday.

The first departure from T5 tomorrow is BA302 to Paris, which is due to leave at 6.20am. A further 380 flights will then depart or arrive from the terminal during its first day of operation.

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