Ten thousand jobs could be created if Stansted Airport is allowed to accommodate more passengers, according to managing director Andrew Harrison.

Mr Harrison has written a letter to the Airports Commission, co-signed by local business leaders, urging it to allow Stansted to expand its business.

The airport is currently limited to a capacity of five million passengers a year by its planning permission but wishes to increase this to 40 to 45 million a year.

"Making the best use of Stansted's single runway will be vital to both the region and to London over the next 10-15 years," Mr Harrison said in the letter, BBC News reports.

However, Peter Sanders, chairman of the Stop Stansted Expansion, said the signatories were being "premature", as the Airports Commission has pointed out the airport will not be full until 2041.

The commission is set to publish a report on the expansion of UK airport capacity next summer.