Forecast growth in passengers

2005: 228 million 2010: 276 million 2015: 333 million 2020: 400 million

NATS pledges

Trainee controller intake to rise from 120 to 180 per year Improving flightpaths for Luton and Stansted by resectorisation Reduce the vertical separation of aircraft above 29,000 feet from 2,000 to 1,000 feet to increase capacity and reduce delays

The government's widely expected to give the go ahead, and police forces are already preparing to deal with environmental protests.

The next pressure will be for another runway, somewhere in the south east.

BAA, the company that owns Heathrow, has ruled out a third runway there. Three entire villages comprising several thousand homes would have to be demolished.

The airlines beg to differ. The British Air Transport Association, of which Heathrow's biggest airline British Airways is the leading member, has told the government that Heathrow should be expanded to "three, or preferably four, runways".

In addition, "Gatwick and then Stansted should each get a second runway", plus another runway at Luton as well.

For ministers, that is highly uncomfortable reading. The extent to which they will make runway decisions in next year's White Paper is far from clear.

Smaller planes, more flights

Waiting around: the shape of things to come?

Some believe the eventual choice is most likely to be a second runway at Stansted, where the airport layout is most practical and where opposition could be least.

The reality is that the demand to fly is outstripping the capacity to do so, and that looks set to continue. Low cost airlines like easyJet, Ryanair and Go are buying new aircraft and adding new flights faster than controllers can be found to handle them.

Other airlines like British Airways are downsizing, to fly smaller planes on more frequent schedules.

Air traffic controllers complain that they're already overstretched, and in danger of becoming more so.

But they say they won't compromise on safety, and that's why there are departure delays; it's safer to keep passengers and planes waiting on the ground, rather than in the air.

The one consolation if you are delayed yet again is that, contrary to popular belief, more congestion in the air does not equal more danger.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority's annual report on "airproxes" or near misses, published last week, serious incidents are down to an all time low. Flying may be frustrating at times, but it remains very safe.