BA reported an operating profit of £263m for the first quarter, a 27.7% rise on the £206m
for the same period in 2006
The airline said pre-tax profits at £289m were 51.3% higher than those in the same three months for last year of £191m.
Its operating margin rose to 12% compared with 9.2% in 2006.
BA said that demand in First and Club world remained “strong” and traffic rose by 0.1% but demand in non-premium cabins fell in the quarter by 2.3% on North American and domestic routes.
The airline blamed the rise in the air passenger duty.
Willie Walsh, BA's ceo, said: "These are very good results despite operational difficulties at Heathrow. Profits are up as a result of the steps we took last year to control costs and strengthen our business.
"Revenue is flat before exchange and reflects the continued impact of security and baggage restrictions on short haul and premium transfer traffic, which Heathrow has been struggling to cope with.
"Our operating margin for the quarter is 12 per cent and our target of a 10 percent operating margin for the year remains."
But Mr Walsh acknowledged that the airline faced another fine, from the EC competition authorities, for price fixing.
This is on top of the £121.5m fine by the UK Office of Fair Trading and the £148m by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) levied last
week after the carrier admitted talking to Virgin Atlantic over raising fuel surcharges.
Both airlines are likely to face "class suites" from passengers alleging that they paid too much because of the price fixing.
A UK national newspaper, the Sunday Telegraph also said that a number of BA executives "below board room level" was likely to be named by the DoJ in a court hearing in Washington next week.
Mr Walsh said BAA would hand over the new Terminal Five to BA in September and it would open on schedule next year.
He said the new Club World cabin had been "a huge success and customer satisfaction levels are high."
He added: "We are fitting aircraft at the rate of one per week and have completed more than half the Boeing 747 fleet. The new cabin is flying on 96 services per week to New York."