Heathrow Airport’s long-delayed third runway plans took a major step forward this week, after it was revealed the government is prepping to give the project its backing.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will outline her support for expansion bids from three major London hubs – Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton – in a speech later this month, according to reports.

Such a move would cement Labour’s view that airport expansion is a vital part of its pledge to grow the economy and comes despite fierce opposition from bigwigs including energy secretary Ed Miliband and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

But while Gatwick and Luton have already put forward their proposals, Heathrow still has much further to go.

The UK’s largest airport has yet to submit a Development Consent Order (DCO) – planning applications for nationally significant infrastructure projects – and there were reports last year it was exploring more modest means of ramping up capacity.

Heathrow’s plans for a third runway have been an ongoing saga for decades but came close to fruition in 2020, when the airport won a court battle against environmental campaigners to overturn a ban on the project.

However, the pandemic put everything on hold as passenger numbers were decimated and the aviation industry faced the most challenging period in its history.

Now though, Heathrow is bringing in record numbers as travel demand booms across the globe, potentially giving the hub more grounds to justify such a ginormous capacity increase.

And there are more reasons to believe the project may go ahead.

Insiders close to the talks say conversations between the Department for Transport (DfT), Treasury and Heathrow executives have sped up in recent months, and there is a belief among the airport’s senior leadership that this government understands the merits of expansion.

Boss Thomas Woldbye, the Dane flown in from Copenhagen to replace the outgoing John Holland-Kaye in 2023, was seen by those around him as more pragmatic and thoughtful than his predecessor, and was initially more sceptical of the proposals, City AM understands.