(BBC) - Heathrow Airport's chief executive urged the government to "get on" with expansion as it reported a pre-tax profit of £120m for the six months to end of June.

That compares with £23m a year earlier. The airport also reported a 1.3% rise in passengers to 35.5 million.

Revenue rose 5.9% to £1.3bn.

John Holland-Kaye said the expansion of the airport would deliver £211bn to the UK economy and 180,000 new jobs.

"We're into a new phase now where the focus is on making this happen, in the interests of the country as quickly as possible," Mr Holland-Kaye told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"This is now something that can be delivered and we need to get on with it as quickly as possible," he added.

Mr Holland-Kaye said Heathrow could get "shovels in the ground in 2019", which would allow "us to get the benefits of Heathrow expansion in 2025".

But he said "the key thing" was to get "an early decision from government that allows us to move with confidence and line up the supply chain, do the right thing for communities and get on and deliver the huge benefits".

He also warned the airport was at full capacity, adding that if Britain wanted to be a world exporter then the government needed to expand the airport.