The company, which is expected to announce pre-tax profits of nearly ￡1 billion this year, spent just ￡500,000 on equipment to deal with snow and ice.

　　Colin Matthews, its chief executive, will be paid more than ￡1 million in salary, bonuses and pension contributions.

　　Gatwick, which yesterday operated 90 per cent of its flights, spent ￡1 million on new snow ploughs this year and will spend a further ￡7 million next year. It has 150 staff working to clear the snow and ice, compared to 50 snow and ice-clearing specialists at Heathrow.

　　Despite the backlog, flights have been leaving Heathrow less than half full because airport security staff have been clocking off at 10.30pm.

　　In the early hours of Monday morning an Airbus A380, which would normally have 500 passengers, left Heathrow with just 200 people on board. Last night agreement was reached with airlines that would allow staff to work until midnight.

　　Cardiff airport was closed yesterday while Exeter, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Luton Bristol and Southampton airports were subject to severe delays.

　　A spokesman for BAA admitted it had failed to invest enough ahead of winter. He said: The investments that we made were applicable to a typical British winter. Looking forward we are going to have to consider what we have.

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