BA announced an increase in pre-tax profits for the third quarter to £164m amid reports that the airline is planning to axe hundreds of jobs as it prepares for its move to Terminal Five at Heathrow in 2008.
Willie Walsh, the ceo, is due to announce his business plan for the carrier within the coming weeks.
This is expected to include plans for new working practices and job losses through natural wastage rather than compulsory redundancies which Mr Walsh ruled out when he took over last October.
At the time, he said the airline's move into Terminal Five represented a "once in a lifetime opportunity to provide a world-class service for customers and to work with the unions in a way that is relevant to the 21st Century."
Mr Walsh has already announced the loss of 600 management jobs with staff leaving over the next two years.
The pre-tax profit for the three months to December 31, 2005 was an improvement on the £151m profit for the same period in 2004.
For the nine months up to the end of December, the airline announced a pre-tax profit of £529m compared with £519m for 2004.
The operating margin for the quarter was 8.2%, 1.3% higher than in2004. BA is aiming for a margin of 10%.
Mr Walsh said: "These are encouraging results which reflect better revenue and the continued efforts of our people to strengthen the business.
"Revenue is up 8.8 per cent, driven by strong traffic volumes particularly in the premium cabin. Increased volumes have been achieved through significant promotional activity.
"Total costs are up by 7.3 per cent but we have initiatives underway to reverse the trend, such as management reductions, changes to working practices, reduced absenteeism and restructuring unprofitable parts of the business."