Emergency plans to hire 70 more staff at troubled Heathrow were announced by the Immigration Minister yesterday as he acknowledged that the huge queues at the airport may be damaging Britain's reputation abroad.

Airport falls short of BAA targets as arrivals are greeted with three-hour waits at passport control

The extent to which the Border Force failed to meet some immigration-queue targets at Heathrow last month were revealed today.

The Government has promised action to deal with "too long" queues at Heathrow but blamed the rain for recent troubles and insisted claims of two-hour waits were a "wild" exaggeration.

Heathrow airport has been ordered to stop handing out leaflets to passengers that apologise for delays at immigration.

Lengthy queues at Heathrow cleared overnight - but further concerns were raised today about the reputation of the airport with the Olympics on the horizon.

Edinburgh Airport has at last been sold, with owner BAA yesterday offloading the base in Scotland's capital to the owner of Gatwick and London City airports for £807m.

Edinburgh Airport is to be bought by the group that runs Gatwick and London City airports, it was announced today.

BAA break-up 'boosted Gatwick'

A former top executive at BAA has conceded that the Competition Commission's decision to break-up the airport operator's South-east of England monopoly has already proven successful.

Heathrow was used by 70 million passengers in a year for the first time in the 12 months to April, after booming demand saw planes as well as the runway busier than ever before.

The UK's busiest airport, Heathrow, saw 70 million passengers pass through its terminals in a 12-month period for the first time in March.

The ownership of Heathrow airport could be divided up as a result of small print in the Civil Aviation Bill, which is going through Parliament.

On Friday, the BBC director-general Mark Thompson revealed that part of Radio 1's new home in Broadcasting House is to be renamed The John Peel Wing.