The expansion of London Heathrow with the building of a third, short runway could increase take-offs and landings at Europe’s most congested airport by 50 per cent to 700,000 a year by 2030 according to plans unveiled by the government on Thursday.

In the strongest declaration of support yet for the further development of the main UK aviation hub, ministers swept away previous concerns that the building of a third runway and sixth terminal would breach environmental standards for local air quality and noise.