This morning the airport operator revealled it had started to recover after the worst year in its history which saw losses deepen to £1.8bn last year.

This brings the airport’s cumulative loss due to the pandemic to around £3.8bn.

But Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said the pandemic had strengthened not weakened the strategic case for expansion.

“While we have paused work to expand Heathrow during COVID-19, the crisis has shown the pent-up demand from airlines to fly from Heathrow, as well as how critical Heathrow is for UK’s trade routes and the risk to the economy of Britain relying on EU hubs which can close borders overnight.

“We will review our plans for expansion over the course of the next year.”

The review of plans is taking place before Heathrow Airport seeks development consent, one of several hurdles to be cleared before construction can start.

Heathrow expansion will be privately funded, with no cost to the taxpayer.