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The Home Office and airport operator BAA have announced a joint initiative to reduce waiting times at Heathrow airport's border control areas to a maximum of 15 minutes for UK and EU travellers.

Heathrow's chief operating officer Mike Brown and home secretary Jacqui Smith will work together to reduce maximum waiting times from the current level of 25 minutes.

Non-EU citizens should also benefit from a reduction in waiting times from the current 45 minutes to 30 minutes.

The agreement between BAA and the government will seek to improve the passenger experience through measures such as display boards in arrivals areas offering useful information and countdown signs in queues with estimated waiting times.

A similar agreement was signed between the Home Office's UK Border Agency and Manchester Airport in August.

Mr Brown said: 'We welcome any moves to drive down queues and improve the passenger experience at Heathrow and I am very pleased that the home secretary and the UK Border Agency have signed up to this positive initiative.'

Last year saw more than 67m passengers travel through Heathrow airport, which is staffed by around 1,900 UK Border Agency workers.

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