British Airways has appointed a new general manager at Gatwick Airport as the troubled airline begins to show signs of recovery.

Ian Critchley, who has switched from Heathrow, will be in charge of 1,700 "frontline" workers, such as baggage handlers, ramp operators and ticket collectors.

His appointment follows changes to the way BA runs its customer services operation, which had previously been managed at individual airport level.

Now control of customer services at BA's seven airports has passed to Mervyn Walker, director of UK airports, based at the airline's Heathrow headquarters.

The reshuffle has prompted several changes to BA management, which a spokeswoman said was unrelated to recent cost-cutting drives.

Mr Critchley, 45, who will report to Mr Walker, had previously been general manager at Heathrow in charge of aircraft services, baggage handling, aircraft loading and ground transport.

His predecessor at Gatwick, David Erich, has been appointed general manager for Heathrow - terminals 1, 3 and UK regions.

Before joining BA, Mr Critchley held a number of senior positions at Price Waterhouse, Blue Circle Industries and PR consultants Potterton International.

Mr Walker said: "Ian brings a wealth of experience to the role of general manager Gatwick which will be highly valuable in ensuring the continued success of our customer service operation at the airport."

On Monday, BA was boosted by a huge rise in third-quarter profits to £125 million from £25 million over the same period last year.

Now the company is forecast to announce the first return to profitability for its European short-haul flights, based at Gatwick, since 1997.

But the turnaround has come at a price. The airline is due to axe 13,000 jobs throughout Britian by the end of March.

The company recently told staff it intended to make extra savings in employee costs worth £300 million - a move unions fear could result in a further 4,000 job losses.

BA chief executive Rod Eddington said the airline had "survived the most testing period in aviation history".

Mr Eddington said: "These are good results and a significant improvement on last year. They show what can be achieved when we are focused on our cost targets."

But the figures do not include January 2004, when the airline faced disruption on transatlantic flights because of the threat of terrorist attacks, so its next set of figures may not be as good.

Thursday February 12, 2004