‘There’s something in the air’: UK airport expansion gears up for takeoff

The airport expansion lobby says bigger airports mean more trade, jobs and growth. But expansion doesn’t always mean new runways, such as the controversial plan for a third runway at Heathrow. Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA

The younger, tormented minister mulling 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.

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