The sale of some highly prized take-off and landing slots at London Heathrow airport to two Middle East carriers helped BMI British Midland, the second-largest airline at the airport, totreble pre-tax profit last year to £29.7m.

The airline, controlled by Sir Michael Bishop, BMI chairman, has also staged a strong operating recovery in the last two years after suffering several years of losses and is set for strong growth from its medium and long-haul operations from Heathrow.