Stansted Airport has submitted a planning application to raise the cap on the number of passengers it is allowed to serve.

If successful, the airport will raise its cap from 35 million passengers per year (mppa) to 43mppa, while staying within approved limits on aircraft noise and flight numbers.

The application asks to make best use of the airport’s existing single runway over the next decade, a move which the airport says will deliver significant economic benefits to the UK and east of England.

It is said the move would create 5,000 on-site jobs, improve passenger choice and convenience and boost international long-haul routes to places like China, India and the US.

The application will also ease pressure on the London airport system by unlocking additional capacity at a time when other airports are full.

Detailed analysis included in the planning application demonstrates how the ongoing introduction of the next generation of new quieter aircraft will ensure that future passenger growth can be achieved without increasing the number of flights or noise footprint already permitted.

For example, new aircraft being brought into service by Ryanair and easyJet are up to 50 per cent quieter than the aircraft they are replacing.

In the five years since MAG acquired Stansted, annual passenger numbers have increased by nearly 10 million to 26mppa.

Ken O’Toole, CEO of London Stansted Airport, said: “Looking to the future, demand at Stansted is predicted to remain strong and with constraints on runway capacity in the South East increasing, we are expecting to reach our current limit on passenger numbers in the early 2020s.

"We are now at the point where it is right to consider the framework for the airport’s growth beyond the current limit.

“Over the past six months we have consulted widely on our future growth plans and based on the feedback from these discussions, we’ve made sure our growth can be achieved within current limits on flight numbers and with no increase in the size of the airport’s noise footprint.

"This is good news for residents.

“In addition, thousands more local jobs will be created and our long-haul connectivity to fast-growing markets like China, USA, India will receive a real boost."

The application will also ask for additional airfield infrastructure within the airfield boundary, consisting of two new links to the runway, six additional stands on the mid airfield and three additional stands at the north eastern end of the airport.