Sir Howard Davies, who has been appointed by the government as the chairman of an independent commission into airport capacity, will set out the terms of reference for his inquiry this morning.
The government is committed to opposing a third runway at Heathrow Airport. But a decision on whether to support any of the recommendations contained in the final report, expected in 2015, will be taken after the next general election.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, told Today presenter Evan Davis that "it's a great shame that Howard Davies isn't able to come up with what I believe is the logical conclusion which is to decide now or in the next year or so as between the major options.
"I think it's going to be toxic and disastrous to go into the election of 2015 with Heathrow runway three still on the agenda, millions of Londoners still in a state of great anxiety and uncertainty about whether or not they are going to suffer from severe noise pollution."
The Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert told the programme that the country should try to "focus on making better use of the infrastructure".
And he added: "There is space for a 60% increase in passenger numbers
without building any new runways or any new airports."
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