July 24 (Reuters) - Britain's Heathrow Airport reported

a first-half profit on Wednesday, boosted by robust passenger

traffic as travel demand remained steadfast, while urging the

new government to consider policies to help the country better

compete with European travel hubs.

Britain's busiest airport said nearly 40 million travellers

had passed through its gates in the six months to June, and the

airport was prepared for travel in summer, a busy period, while

maintaining its core profit forecast of 1.94 billion pounds

($1.21 billion) for the year.

Heathrow reported an adjusted pre-tax profit of 178 million

pounds ($229.4 million) for the first half compared to a loss of

139 million pounds a year earlier, while revenue slipped 2.9% to

1.69 billion pounds.

Heathrow warned that "competitive drags hang over the

airport with bureaucratic tax and border policies pushing

passengers" to other destinations, and encouraged Prime Minister

Keir Starmer and his government to back Britain's aviation

industry.

The Labour government is hoping to attract tens of billions

of pounds of private capital into new and growing industries to

help speed up the economy.

Heathrow said on Wednesday that it was conducting an

internal review of its work so far and the current status of the

sector to inform its plans of running the airport and creating

capacity.

It had averted union strikes in May over proposed plans to

outsource hundreds of roles after discussions, while it is also

clearing shortfalls in its settlement with the Civil Aviation

Authority over current regulatory framework.

($1 = 0.7758 pounds)