"As the population ages, more and more companies will have to give serious consideration to their own policies on retirement," he said."Help the Aged now hopes the Government itself will also accept that mandatory retirement ages should be consigned to the dustbin and instead allow older workers the flexibility to choose their own retirement date.". Martin Broughton, the chairman of British Airways, has joined rival airlines in threatening to call for a break-up of BAA if the airports operator pursues the idea of paying for a new runway and terminal at Stansted with levies on passengers at its Heathrow and Gatwick sites. Capital Economics, a consultancy that forecasts a 20 per cent price fall over the next three years, said property was still overvalued. Ed Stansfield, its property economist, said:

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"With tax rises in the pipeline and mortgage demand remaining subdued, it seems probable that we are still only in the early stages of a protracted housing market correction."The Bank of England is assuming in its forecasts that house price inflation will fall to somewhere close to zero. There seems little likelihood of a sharp correction occurring in house prices over the coming months, unless the economy slows markedly and unemployment starts to rise significantly."Other economists are still worried about the risk of a renewed downturn in the housing market. Figures from the Bank of England on Wednesday pointed to a signs of a gentle rebound as mortgage approvals - an indicator of future price growth - rose to a nine-month high of 95,000.Howard Archer, economist at Global Insight, said: "While latest data and survey evidence relating to housing market activity show overall signs of stabilisation at a relatively low level, it currently remains largely a buyers' market. She said London and the South-east had already seen localised falls in prices and warned that other parts of the country could see values drop.Nationwide said prices had increased by an average of just 0.2 per cent in the past three months compared with an average 1.7 per cent for the same period last year.

"Employment, income, interest rates and confidence are still supportive," Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's group economist, said. "This does not suggest that the market will pick up again rapidly; rather that it will continue on its gently cooling path this year."However she highlighted a range of risks such as the high levels of debt, the impact of recent interest rate rises, fear of future of tax increases and a slowdown in the wider global economy. The slowdown in the housing market broke through another landmark last month as annual price inflation plunged to its lowest level in almost a decade. Nationwide building society said yesterday the annual rate of house price growth fell to 5.5 per cent in May, the lowest level since August 1996.This marked the point in the Nineties at which the property market made a decisive break from the previous five years of price falls and stagnation to embark on its recent boom.May's figure compared with the 7 per cent recorded in April and was just one-third of the pace of the recent peak of 20.3 per cent recorded in July last year.Nationwide said it was further evidence of a "slowing trend" in the housing market, adding that it cemented its forecast of a soft landing rather than a crash in price. BAA has floated the idea of a levy on passengers at Heathrow and Gatwick of between 50p-£1 while also raising charges at Stansted.. The timetable for opening the second runway has slipped by a year, which means it will not be ready until 2013, it said. But it has warned recently that the project to expand Stansted will be delayed if it has to be financed entirely by passengers using the Essex airport.

Mr O'Leary has said that he is willing to go to the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission to stop BAA and will also use local planning procedures to block construction.A spokesman for BAA said the company did not wish to get drawn into trading insults. Ryanair, as the airport's main operator, fears it will be hit with the lion's share of the costs. He believes the project should cost about £400m, in line with the expansion of Manchester Airport.The airlines, usually bitter competitors, stand united against BAA's idea. They intend to appeal to the industry regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), whose rules make such subsidies illegal.