On March 15, an influential group of MPs called for an end to BAA's stranglehold over British airports, arguing that the operator's monopoly, particularly in London, had stifled competition.

"There is room for more competition, especially between London airports," said Gwyneth Dunwoody, chairwoman of the lower House of Commons transport oversight committee.

BAA, owned by the Spanish construction group Ferrovial, operates seven British airports: Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted in London; Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen in Scotland; and Southampton, on England's south coast.

About 1,700 aircraft take off from its British airports every day -- the equivalent to one every 30 seconds -- and it handled 150 million passengers between March 2007 and February this year, according to the firm's website.

Dunwoody said BAA had the lion's share of air travel into and out of Britain and its future was "of central importance" to the country. But she added: "Ending BAA's common ownership will encourage airports to compete for traffic.

"The committee firmly believes that increased competition is possible and could have huge benefits for both airlines and passengers."

The committee's report said the company had to answer "serious questions raised over mismanagement of resources and failure to plan adequately for contingencies which were far from unexpected, let alone inconceivable".

That included strikes and "terrorist incidents", it said.

"Our criticism of BAA is that it should have predicted the predictable and planned accordingly," it added.

BAA has been criticised for delays, overcrowding and queues caused by extra security measures put in place after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States as well as lost baggage at Heathrow.

Last week, Virgin Atlantic and low-cost peers easyJet, bmi and Ryanair, attacked a decision by Britain's aviation industry regulator to allow BAA to significantly increase landing charges for planes at London's main airports.

Britain's Competition Commission is also investigating the whole question of airport ownership amid government plans for an expansion in air travel.

In response, BAA highlighted the opening of a new terminal at Heathrow, its long-term investment plans and application to build southeast England's first full-length runway since World War II at Stansted.

A break-up would delay investment and what the government and committee itself identified as the "overwhelming priority" to provide extra runway and terminal capacity in southeast England, it said.

"No other airport operator in this country has demonstrated willingness to deliver that capacity and, in fact, proposed investments at non-BAA airports have either been postponed or cancelled completely," it added.