British Airways has warned that traffic this month could be down by 25 to 30 per cent, while BMI British Midland has announced that it is cutting 11 per cent of its workforce with the loss of up to 600 jobs.

Mr Mike Hodgkinson, chief executive of airports operator BAA, said that profits at the group, which operates seven UK airports, including Heathrow, could fall by up to 20 per cent this year as a result of the disruption to air travel in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the US.