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A Spanish airline has teamed with a tech giant to become one of the first airlines to allow passengers to board planes with the flick of a wrist.

Iberia and Samsung have developed a wearable boarding pass using a new app that can be installed on Samsung Gear 2 and Gear Neo smartwatches – eliminating the need for a paper document.

Similar to boarding passes on mobile phones, passengers who are wearing one of the devices simply have to scan the electronic bar code on the app to get through airport checkpoints and onto their flight. 

Smartwatch: Iberia's app can be downloaded to Samsung's Gear 2 and Gear Neo devices

There's an app for that: This screen grab compares Iberia's new smartwatch app to its mobile phone app

Miguel Angel Henales, Iberia's director of digital business, said in a statement: 'At Iberia.com we are constantly adding new services and technologies. We believe that this innovative boarding pass will be very well received by our customers.'

Samsung Electronics' corporate vice-president, Celestino Garcia, said the device will make travel more convenient and simple for users.

Airlines have gradually been incorporating smartwatch technology to make it easier for customers to book or manage their flights. 

Samsung Electronics' corporate vice-president says the device will make travel more convenient and simple

Paper cut: Passengers have already been using electronic boarding passes on their mobile phones for years

Earlier this year Spanish low-cost airline Vueling partnered with Sony to create the first smartwatch-based boarding pass, and Air Berlin announced its own app using Pebble's smartwatches. 

Virgin Atlantic has already tested wearable technology to improve the customer experience from the check-in counter to the gate.

It previously trialled Google Glass and Sony's line of smartwatches in the Upper Class Wing at London Heathrow Airport.