Airport expansion Operators hope plans will fly with pro-growth Labour

The younger, tormented minister considering his position before the Labour government granted Heathrow's third runway in 2009 might have been greatly relieved to know that, 15 years later, not a shovel would have touched the ground.

- Gwyn Topham

But now, returning to power with a revamped energy and climate brief, Ed Miliband again finds himself in a cabinet that many in aviation hope may usher in bigger airports and more flights - with enough CO2 emissions to outweigh any new solar farms.

Despite emerging victorious in political and legal battles over its plans for a third runway, Heathrow has dropped down the airport expansion queue. Among London airports alone, City has just been granted permission to expand passenger numbers by 40%, while Luton and Gatwick await ministerial decisions on major developments that would add huge numbers of flights.

Net zero may still be the government's stated ambition, but the messages ringing louder in airport executives' ears are those from the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, stressing growth and planning reforms to get Britain building infrastructure again particularly the type not funded by the battered public purse. A preelection interview in which Reeves underlined she had "nothing against expanding airport capacity ... I back our airports" was noted.

Growth doesn't necessarily mean new runways. Airports' passenger capacities are often limited in original planning conditions, which several hope to amend. Bigger planes and extended flight hours, as well as reconfigured buildings and more efficient operations, can all bring more customers through.

Manchester and Birmingham are growing with terminal renovations, while a big extension to Stansted's terminal follows the airport's legal victory in pushing its permitted capacity to 43 million passengers a year.

Britain's operators might not yet have the brass neck of Ireland's Dublin airport, which its Ryanairschooled chief executive Kenny Jacobs announced last week would simply be breaking its licensed 32m limit this year, and hadn't checked the sanctions. "We're in uncharted territory," Jacobs said.