A British Airways spokesman said the airline company was looking at a 'variety of means' to fill the post, created to fill the previous roles of customers services executive and operations executive.

But the she declined to confirm reports in the Observer and Independent newspaper that a headhunter instructed by BA had been told to find a recruit who could be groomed to take over from BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh.

'It would be premature to say that,' the spokesman said.

BA was not able to give a timeframe for the appointment of the new chief operations officer because there were likely to be a limited pool of candidates to fill the role which will involve heading up a staff of 20,000 people, the spokesman said. -- REUTERS