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Effective cost control measures boosted British Airways' (BA) quarterly pre-tax profits by 51 per cent to £289 million.

The improvement in profits was not due to rising revenues as these fell by 2.4 per cent on the same period last year.

It added that rising fuel costs, a depreciating dollar and problems at Heathrow airport had adversely affected results.

However, the company's cost performance "benefited from the weak US dollar", enabling it to achieve a 5.2 per cent reduction to £473 million in fuel costs because of "favourable exchange".

Employee costs also fell by 8.3 per cent to £542 million because of pension scheme reforms. Lower agency commissions and passenger numbers also caused a reduction in selling costs by about £15 million.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said the impact of "security and baggage restrictions" was affecting the firm and called upon the airport authority to improve services at Heathrow airport.

While speaking about the company's outlook, Mr Walsh said he was looking forward to the opening of Terminal Five at Heathrow. However he warned that fuel costs would exceed expectations by over £20 million and a weak dollar would continue to harm revenues.

On the subject of the recent £266.5 million in fines imposed by the Office of Fair Trading and the US department of justice, Mr Walsh said a £350 million provision existed to cover the fine.