Days ahead of an expected UK government announcement, airline chiefs have joined business leaders and trade unionists in a series of newspaper advertisements calling for a third runway at London Heathrow airport.
British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh said: "A third runway would be fantastic news for jobs and investment in Britain. The rest of Europe has already built extra capacity at its hub airports and will be ready to benefit when the economic recovery comes. Britain cannot afford to slip further behind."
Other commentators have said thousands of jobs will be lost unless developments at other UK airports - including a new runway at Stansted - go ahead.
They claim proposed runways at Heathrow and Stansted will pump an extra GBP13billion a year into the economy by 2030.
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