Key plans for a £200m expansion of Stansted airport which will create 5,000 new jobs should be given the green light in the next few weeks.

Chiefs at Stansted are expecting to be given local authority planning permission for the expansion in February.

Construction work could start in summer 2000, with the expansion taking the airport's annual passenger numbers up to 15 million.

Boosted by the arrival of a number of low-cost airlines, Stansted has recently seen a huge increase in passenger numbers.

In November 1998, the airport handled 527,305 passengers - a 34 per cent increase on the same month in 1997.

This big monthly rise took the number of passengers using Stansted in the 12 months ending November 1998 to 6.7 million - a 25 per cent increase on the previous 12 months.

For this winter season, Stansted has 52 scheduled destinations served by 22 airlines, compared with winter 1997-98 when 32 destinations were served by just 12 airlines.

Meanwhile, airport operator BAA, which runs Stansted, will shortly announce expansion plans for Gatwick airport.

The plans, which involve an extension to both the south and north terminals, could result in Gatwick being able to take about 40 million passengers a year compared with the current figure of around 28 million.

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