British Airways today urged BAA to recruit more staff at Heathrow as it became the latest airline to attack the company over poor customer service levels at Britain's biggest airport.

Willie Walsh, BA chief executive, said it was clear Heathrow had been “struggling to cope” with security and baggage restrictions put in place by the Government and admitted the problems were beginning to hit BA’s business.

He said: “In order for the Government to remove the restrictions, BAA must recruit additional personnel and invest in the right equipment so we can get back to offering good customer service.”

Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, said earlier this week that Heathrow brought “shame” on London. Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, said that BAA service levels at Heathrow and Gatwick were “disgraceful”.

BA today revealed that operating profits rose to £263 million in the three months to June 30, up 28 per cent on a year ago, but warned that revenue growth would be lower than expected over the rest of the year, in part because of the operational problems at Heathrow.

The weaker US dollar is the major factor. BA believes revenues will now grow by around 4 per cent this year against earlier forecasts of 5 per cent.

Passenger revenue in the first quarter fell 2 per cent to £1.9 billion. Passenger numbers in July fell 2.7 per cent in July to 3.1 million.

The airline added that the spiralling price of oil on world markets meant that its fuel bill would be £20 million higher than expected earlier this year.

BA refused to say whether its fuel surcharge would be increased as a result. A spokesman said: “We keep the surcharge under constant review.”

Two days ago, the airline received record £270 million fines from regulators on both sides of the Atlantic for illegally colluding with Virgin Atlantic when fixing the price of the surcharge between 2004 and 2006.

Mr Walsh said BA’s quarterly results were “very good”, given the operational difficulties at Heathrow. The profit boost was fuelled by an 8 per cent cut in costs, which helped operating margins to improve from 9.2 per cent to 12 per cent – above its 10 per cent target for the year.

Shares in BA rose 4 per cent in early trading, up 15.75p to 419.5p. UBS reiterated its "buy" rating on the stock and said there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown, said BA had made “significant strides”.

He said: “With the latest batch of negatives now out of the way, and having seen a 24 per cent dip in the share price over the last six months, the general market view is cautiously tending towards the positive."

BA confirmed that it would launch its first non-stop Europe-to-US services next year following the Open Skies agreement between EU and American authorities.

Flights to the US will go from “major business centres” across Europe, such as Paris, Frankfurt and Brussels.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive