NEWCASTLE Airport bosses and business chiefs have welcomed a long-awaited report into airport capacity which recommends that a new runway should be built at Heathrow.

After three years of investigation, the Airports Commission said Heathrow was best placed to provide "urgently required" capacity.

It chose a new, full-length runway at Heathrow rather than expanding one of the airport's current runways or building a new one at Gatwick.

The commission also recommended a "comprehensive" package of measures to make Heathrow 's expansion more acceptable to the local community. This includes a ban on night flights from 11.30pm to 6am, legally binding limits on noise, a new levy to fund insulation for homes, schools and other community facilities around Heathrow, and an independent noise authority.

Bosses at Newcastle International Airport said they had campaigned for years in favour of expanding the UK’s global hub airport.

David Laws, chief executive at Newcastle Airport, said: “We have had great faith in the process undertaken by Sir Howard Davies and his colleagues on the Airports Commission.

“We are very pleased that the Commission has made what we consider to be the right recommendation. Heathrow is the UK’s only hub airport, and is one of the most important hubs in the world, but it is full."

Mr Laws said the North-East currently enjoyed good connectivity into Heathrow with up to seven British Airways services a day, delivering 500,000 passengers from the North-East.

But he added: "By constructing a third runway, and providing additional capacity, these services can be safeguarded, but can in the future also connect to a much wider range of global destinations.

“We urge the Government to agree to the recommendations of this Commission at the earliest opportunity, and set about the process of delivering this globally important scheme."

Paul Woolston, chair of the North Eastern Local Enterprise Partnership, added: “The Strategic Economic Plan for the North East is aimed at delivering more and better jobs.

“This can only be achieved and is supported by better transport networks, connecting the North East to that national and international economy.

“The expansion of Heathrow would help safeguard both our national and international connections, ensuring north eastern businesses are able to continue to benefit from the connections currently available.

Commission chairman Sir Howard Davies said the conclusions were "clear and unanimous". He warned that London's airports were showing signs of "strain" and the entire system would be full by 2040 without action.

The Government will now consider the recommendations, but the commission said a firm decision was needed soon, as bringing a new runway into operation would take at least a decade.

No new full-length runway has been built in south-east England since the 1940s, while other countries have kept pace with the growing demands of an expanding aviation industry, said the commission. Its 242 page report also recommended that a fourth runway at Heathrow should be "firmly ruled out".

The cost of building a new runway is estimated to be around £17.6 billion, said the commission, with billions more in transport costs.

The commission said a new runway would generate up to £147 billion in economic output over 60 years and create more than 70,000 jobs by 2050.

Regular daily services to around 40 new destinations would be added, including 10-12 new long-haul flights.

Gatwick had presented a "plausible" case for expansion and was well placed to cater for growth in European leisure flying, but was unlikely to provide capacity which was urgently required - long-haul destinations on new markets, said the report.

"Heathrow can provide that capacity most easily and quickly. The benefits are significantly greater, for business passengers, freight operators and the broader economy," said Sir Howard.

The commission had ruled out a new airport in the Thames Estuary, favoured by London mayor Boris Johnson, as "unfeasibly expensive and hugely disruptive for many businesses and communities."

A new runway at Heathrow would provide the necessary capacity until 2040 at least, said Sir Howard.

"Beyond that the position is uncertain and will be strongly dependent on the international policy approach to climate change."

A ban on night flights would affect 16 which currently land at Heathrow between 4.30 and 6am. This would only be possible with expansion, said the commission.

A "noise envelope" would be agreed, legally binding Heathrow to stay within limits. This could include stipulating no overall increase above current levels.

The commission also recommended that Heathrow should compensate residents who would lose their homes - estimated at 783 - at full market value plus 25% and reasonable costs.

The airport should also be held to its commitment to spend more than £1 billion on community compensation, the report said. It also called for an aviation noise authority to be set up, with a statutory right to be consulted on flight paths.

New investments in railways should be made and a congestion charge for cars arriving at Heathrow should be considered, it was urged.

John Holland-Kaye, chief executive of Heathrow Airport said: "This debate has never been about a runway, it's been about the future we want for Britain.

"Expanding Heathrow will keep Britain as one of the world's great trading nations, right at the heart of the global economy.

"Our new plans have been designed around the needs of local communities and will meet carbon, air quality and noise targets, and provides the greatest benefit to the UK's connectivity and its long term economic growth.

"We will create the world's best connected, most efficient and most environmentally responsible hub airport at the heart of an integrated transport system. The Commission has backed a positive and ambitious vision for Britain. We will now work with Government to deliver it."

But Gatwick Airport's chief executive Stewart Wingate said: "Gatwick is still very much in the race.

"The Commission's report makes clear that expansion at Gatwick is deliverable.

"It is for the Commission to make a recommendation but it is of course for the Government to decide.

"So we now enter the most important stage of the process. We are confident that when the Government makes that decision they will choose Gatwick as the only deliverable option.

"For instance, this report highlights the very significant environmental challenges at Heathrow such as air quality and noise impact.

"Gatwick will give the country the economic benefits it needs and at the same time impact far less people. It is quicker simpler and quieter. Above all - after decades of delay - it can actually happen."

Sir Howard said the government should make an early decision, adding: "Further delay will be increasingly costly and will be seen, nationally and internationally, as a sign that the UK is unwilling or unable to take the steps needed to maintain its position as a well connected open trading economy in the 21st century."

The report said Gatwick's rail links were not as strong as Heathrow's. Heathrow was also well located for road access, in contrast with Gatwick 's "less convenient" location.

Expanding Heathrow would boost competition, help reduce fares and increase choice for passengers, the commission said.

John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "After three years of deliberation, businesses across the UK will be pleased that the Airports Commission has finally come to a clear recommendation.

"Now that all the evidence is on the table, firms in every corner of the UK want to see an irreversible government commitment to a new runway at Heathrow by the end of 2015, with planning complete and diggers on the ground by the end of this parliament in 2020.

"The ball is now firmly in the government's court. If ministers duck this decision, and delay airport expansion for yet another generation, British businesses and our overall competitiveness will pay the price."

Mr Johnson said he was disappointed by the recommendations and predicted that a third runway at Heathrow would never be built.

In a tweet the Mayor said: "Davies commission pro Heathrow is disappointing - compounds not solves issue - destined for vertical filing as 3rd r/way will never be built."

But Sir Howard dismissed Mr Johnson's comment, saying the Mayor has "made a lot of phrases during this debate but not actually come up with a plausible proposal for something that would actually expand London's capacity in an economically helpful way".

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I hope the Mayor will look hard at the package of conditions attached to Heathrow expansion which are very different from the ones that have gone before."

Sir Howard said the prolonged debate about the issue was affecting the way London was viewed around the world.

"As we have gone around the world we have found that it has become a rather symbolic point: is London prepared to make the decisions it needs to remain a global city.

"I think ministers will realise that a decision is needed."

He said that Heathrow had to be a "better neighbour" to win the support of local communities.

"The benefits are considerably greater in our view, but we have made it clear that we think the airport must operate in a very different way in future if it is to gain enough support from its local communities to expand," he said.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said his department would being considering the report "in detail".

He said: "As a nation we must be ambitious and forward looking. This is a once in a generation opportunity to answer a vital question.

"I will make a statement to Parliament later today in which I will set out the process for that decision to be made."