More than 1.5 billion boarding passes will be delivered via mobile by 2019, compared to approximately 745 million boarding passes estimated to be delivered this year, according to Juniper Research. This means that mobile boarding passes will represent one in three boarding passes issued by airlines at the end of 2019.

Mobile passes are increasingly used by frequent flyers. Fifty-three percent of airlines have already implemented mobile boarding passes through apps, which is expected to rise to 91 percent by 2017.

However, research author Nitin Bhas notes that the success of mobile barcode boarding passes could mean further delays in adopting NFC technology.

What do you think? Do mobile boarding passes make more sense for airlines, or do the security benefits of NFC trump apps?