Heathrow profits up 10 per cent to £438 million

Airports operator, BAA, has angered airlines by announcing a more than 10% rise in profits from Heathrow last year despite numerous reports of bad customer service, long security queues and poor infrastructure. BAA's poor service, which has been repeatedly criticised by airlines (reported most recently in 'In the News' on 28 January 2008), has led to calls from some quarters for the company's monopoly over Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead airports to be broken up.

The news comes as the Association of British Insurers announced yesterday that passengers would be unlikely to be able to insure against lost luggage if they travelled from Heathrow's Terminal 5. Anywhere between 20,000 and 28,000 bags have been lost by British Airways since Terminal 5 opened last month (reported most recently in 'In the News' on 3 April 2008).