Two London airports have won approval for large increases in flights and passengers in the biggest expansion of aviation for a decade.

The Government raised the limit yesterday on the number of passengers at Stansted by ten million a year to 35 million, allowing it to become one of Europe’s biggest airports. It raised the cap on flights to 264,000 a year, 70,000 more than used the airport last year.

Hours earlier, a committee of Newham council in East London approved London City airport’s application for permission to increase flights from 80,000 to 120,000 a year.

The new limits at Stansted are only the first phase of a much greater expansion planned by the Government and BAA, the Spanish-backed company that owns the airport.

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A public inquiry into plans for a second runway, which would enable capacity to grow to 82 million passengers and 513,000 flights a year, is due to start in April.

The Stansted announcement, the first big decision by Geoff Hoon since he was appointed Transport Secretary last week, drew strong criticism from the National Trust, which owns Hatfield Forest near the airport boundary. Green groups accused the Government of promoting a “binge-flying culture” days after its climate-change advisers had recommended that aviation be included in a plan to cut carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

The Stansted decision permits the biggest increase in airline passengers since Manchester airport’s second runway was approved in 1997.

However, it is unclear how quickly the airport will grow. Stansted’s passenger numbers have fallen slightly in the past year to about 22.5 million because of the drop in demand for European budget flights. Ryanair is grounding 16 of its Stansted-based aircraft this winter. The airport will also have a new restriction on the number of private jets that it can accommodate.

Uttlesford District Council, the local authority, had opposed the expansion, prompting a public inquiry that recommended that the Government approve it.

Jim Ketteridge, the council leader, said: “Residents already find the level of aircraft noise extremely disturbing and allowing BAA to increase the amount of air traffic marks a further erosion of our quality of life. We are redoubling our efforts to fight the second runway proposals.”

Theresa Villiers, the Shadow Transport Secretary, said that the Conservatives opposed a second runway but appeared to endorse the decision to allow more flights from the existing runway.

Tim Yeo, the Conservative chairman of the all-party Environmental Audit Committee, said: “It is a bad decision environmentally for East Anglia and it is also wrong economically because the expansion of Stansted has depended on low-cost flights.”

Jim Fitzpatrick, the Aviation Minister, said: “There is an urgent need for additional runway capacity in the South East. We were clear in the aviation White Paper that the priority was to make best use of the existing runways, including using the remaining capacity at Stansted.”

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