Airline tickets are expected to be replaced by biometric scans, such as fingerprints, facial recognition, or iris scans, within the next five years, according to Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas.  

Douglas also predicts that even phone-based boarding passes will vanish by 2030, with apps becoming the exclusive method for booking and travel management.  

While physical tickets and boarding passes have largely been replaced by digital alternatives over the past two decades, paper options remain available. However, Riyadh Air, a Saudi Arabian startup set to launch flights this summer, aims to become the first airline to adopt a fully digital booking system.  

Owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Riyadh Air plans to introduce a custom smartphone-based system, abandoning traditional paper and digital passes entirely.  

Douglas, whose airline is ordering up to 200 jets, told *The Telegraph*: "Our system is inspired by platforms like Uber and Amazon, designed for simplicity and efficiency."  

'We're not starting with a legacy system and therefore we don't need to switch. Existing airlines are trying to bridge a gap and it's going to take three to five years for most of them.'