After Boris Johnson expressed concern that the immigration queues at London’s Heathrow Airport are damaging Britain’s reputation abroad, airport authorities are drawing up a plan to sort out chaos by levying higher landing fees to fund more border staff.

In previous weeks, passengers arriving at BAA operated Heathrow suffered delays at passport control. Complaints of empty border control desks and the failure of iris scanners brought in to speed up the processing of arrivals have also been filled by the travellers.

“We have had a crisis for some time and therefore we need urgent action … we have demonstrated we are prepared to pay where we get the right service,” Willie Walsh, IAG Chief Executive, told Radio 4 on Tuesday.

However, Walsh warned that he was unwilling to pay the “government that will waste money and that will not address the problem that is faced.” The move, which is believed to be supported by David Cameron, which foresees airlines funding extra Border Force staff through the charges they pay the airport operator.

Explaining the current condition of the Europe’s busiest airport, Walsh told the Today programme that those who have been to airport recently can tell about the unacceptable poor standards that the border force has provided, adding that the government is “misleading people” over border control queues.

Meanwhile, the Immigration Minister, Damian Green, confirmed that the scheme to raise landing fees was under discussion between BAA and the airlines, adding that the plans had not yet been presented to the Home Office.

“I have not had a presentation on that. I do not know the details. If somebody comes up with a proposal, we will look at it,” said Damian Green.

Related: Boris Johnson irked with Heathrow immigration issues

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