BAA said this week that it was confident of getting planning approval for the £2bn Terminal 5 project at Heathrow by the end of the year.
Chief executive Mike Hodgkinson said T5 would open in 2007 if permission was granted this year.

He committed BAA to spending more than £600m a year for the next 10 years. The money would be used to expand and improve UK airports.

He made the comments as BAA revealed pre-tax profit of £531m for the year to 31 March, up 40% on the year before. Revenue increased 5% to £2.2bn.

The design team for T5 includes architect Richard Rogers Partnership and engineers Mott MacDonald and Arup.