BA says Heathrow meets NO2 targets

The study recorded levels at sites in and around the west London site.

The building of a third short runway at Heathrow in the middle of the next decade depends on air quality targets being met.

But Heathrow anti-expansion groups said the figures were misleading and were being dismissed by experts.

The BA study found five of the eight sites at the airport were within EU limits and three were above.

It is no exaggeration to say that BA has been caught fiddling the figures Hacan chairman John Stewart

Of the three above, one was inside the perimeter fence, one was where taxis queue to come in to the airport and another was next to the M4.

BA environment manager Kevin Morris said around a third of the NO2 in the Heathrow area was due to the fallout from London.

In this week's issue of the airline's in-house publication British Airways News, Mr Morris added: "The results of this monitoring dispels the myth that Heathrow is the most polluted place on earth."

But Pete Lockley, from the Aviation Environment Federation and the author of a recent study of air pollution around Heathrow, said: "The claim by BA doesn't stand up.

"They have used data from diffusion tubes, a method that the EU says is inadequate; three out of the eight sites were over the limit; and it's totally irrelevant whether the pollution comes from aircraft or cars.

"Pollution levels have to come down below the limits, full stop."

John Stewart, chairman of anti-expansion group Hacan Clearskies, said: "It is no exaggeration to say that BA has been caught fiddling the figures.

"They seem to be deliberately seeking to mislead. It smacks of panic."