British Airways called for the first time yesterday for the break-up of the BAA London airports monopoly.

Willie Walsh, BA chief executive, said Heathrow and Stansted, the airports identified by the British government for expansion with the building of additional runways, should not be both owned by the same company.

Mr Walsh said the call for the break-up of the BAA monopoly was in "no way influenced" by recent security events but was a strategic response to the study launched by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), headed by Dr John Fingleton, into the UK airports market in June.

However, Mr Walsh was fiercely critical of BAA's operations at Heathrow.

He said there was evidence of BAA's poor performance "well before August 10th. BAA cannot use the sudden change [in security procedures] as the reason for its performance.

"They could and should have been better," said Mr Walsh.

He said that the airline was "keeping all its options open" regarding legal action against BAA and a demand for compensation.

BA urged the OFT to make a reference to the Competition Commission for a full inquiry into the UK airports market because of its "concerns about current airport regulation and ownership".

In the event of a break-up there would still need to be "strong regulation to protect users against monopoly power in particular at Heathrow and Gatwick".

It also proposed competitive tendering for a wider range of services at the London airports, including the provision of IT systems.

Pressure for a reference to the Competition Commission is growing across the airline industry.

Ryanair, the biggest low-cost carrier in Europe, also called yesterday for a break-up of the BAA monopoly.