Heathrow representatives admitted their communication about airspace trials could have been better, as they were grilled at a public meeting.

About 300 people attended the meeting at Teddington Baptist Church on Monday, November 10, but many believed more would have attended if the event had been publicised by Heathrow.

Many of those in attendance voiced their anger at the lack of communication between the airport and the public regarding the recent trial, with Councillor Stephen Knight branding the lack of communication "hopelessly wrong".

He said: "They failed to inform residents of the trial and then didn't even inform residents of the public meeting to discuss residents' concerns about the noise we've been experiencing."

Cheryl Monk, Heathrow's head of communications and policy, said: "It is very clear we need to do a lot more about communication.

"We have committed to doing that and we will publish information about the trials we do in the future."

The meeting was set up after changes to easterly departure routes caused planes to fly directly over Teddington and Twickenham and created huge backlash, resulting in an online petition successfully bringing the trials to an early finish.

Ms Monk said the trials were necessary as flight paths have not altered much since they were first drawn up in the 1960s, despite changes in technology and the number of planes using the airport.

She said: "Airspace trials are taking place all over Europe, as the entire airspace needs modernisation.

"You can imagine what a mess the roads would be in if they hadn’t changed in 40 years."

Steven Clark, of Cambridge Road, Teddington, raised the issue of health concerns caused by the extra noise keeping residents from sleeping and said one person had recorded a noise level of 100 dB near Teddington Memorial Hospital.

National Air Traffic Services general manager, Dan Foster, explained the reason for much of the extra noise was because larger planes were not able to follow the new routes as accurately as was hoped.

He said: "I feel sorry for you because you are getting a concentrated level of noise from these planes at the moment."

The question of whether the trials were linked to proposals to for the airport's expansion was also raised and dismissed by Ms Monk.

She said: "These trials are happening regardless of whether Heathrow or Gatwick expand. We are mandated to conduct them by 2020."

Twickenham MP Vice Cable, who chaired the meeting, said the reaction against the trials counted against building a third runway at the west London airport.

He said: "These issues raised make it absolutely clear that Heathrow expansion should be out of the question."