Anti-Heathrow expansion campaigners have welcomed the “win-win” situation of more passengers travelling on fewer planes after reports it will form future policy at the airport.

The issue was discussed last Friday by a panel assessing the London Mayor plans for the capital for the next 20 years, as part of a session on aviation.

John Stewart, chairman of anti-Heathrow expansion group Hacan, was at the inquiry and said Roger Pelman, from BAA, which owns and runs Heathrow, told the panel future plans would see bigger, rather than more, planes at the airport.

Mr Stewart said Mr Pelman told the inquiry BAA does not expect the current cap on the number of flights permitted at Heathrow - 480,000 a year set by the Government in 2001 - to be exceeded for at least 10 years, if at all. He added that 480,000 was the “practical limit” for flight numbers.

It is further good news for residents living under the flight paths after the Government last week ruled out the possibility of planes taking off and landing at the same time, known as mixed mode.

Under mixed mode, planes would be able to take off or land on both runways virtually all day. Currently, take-offs and landings alternate between the northern and southern runway, changing at 3pm each day and giving half a day break, although that is on hold due to repair works to the northern runway.

Mr Stewart said: “We have long argued that 480,000 should be the absolute upper limit. If more passengers can be brought in on fewer planes, that is good for BAA’s business and good for residents under the flight paths.

“It could be a win-win situation.”

Vince Cable, MP for Twickenham, said it sounded like good news for residents and Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park, said he was grateful BAA had finally yielded to common sense.

With Terminal 5 up and running Heathrow has capacity for around 90m passengers a year, up from 66m in 2008 but there are fears infrastructure is not up to scratch.

Mr Stewart added: “More passengers would result in more cars on the roads unless public transport was significantly improved.”

Councillor Nick True, leader of Richmond Council, called for a lower cap on the number of flights as “many in the community believe the point of excess has already been passed” and a reduction would give the airport room to manoeuvre with late running flights and other issues.

He added: “In addition, if the airport keeps pushing towards 480,000 flights without properly upgrading transport links, it can only mean more cars on the roads and increased congestion on routes through our borough and into London.”

Coun True said he had also contacted the airport to ask why the northern runway works could not be carried out at night to ensure residents still had half a days break from the noise.