British Airways is expecting huge fines from a long-running Office of Fair Trading and US Department of Justice investigation into alleged price fixing.

Legal sources said there could be an announcement within days on the progress of the inquiry, which began more than a year ago. BA will report its first-quarter results on Friday.

The investigation, which relates to the imposition of fuel surcharges on fares, began after Virgin Atlantic, BA's rival, turned whistleblower. BA suspended Martin George, its commercial director, and Iain Burns, head of communications, and both later left the airline.

BA has set aside US$751.72 million against the cost of penalties arising from the investigation and a separate international probe into the imposition of fuel surcharges on cargo customers.