Aviation is worth £52 billion to the UK economy, sustains 960,000 jobs and contributes £8.7 billion in taxation to the Treasury, according to a new study.

Commissioned by leading players from the aviation and tourism sectors, the Oxford Economics study reveals that all three elements of the sector’s contribution to the UK economy have grown.

Aviation's contribution to GDP equates to 3.4 per cent of the whole UK economy, with airports and ground services making up the largest share, followed closely by aerospace and then airlines.

"These figures underline once more just how important a growing aviation sector is to the performance of the UK economy," said the Airport Operators Association chief executive Darren Caplan.

The figures, which are for 2012, represent a rise on comparable earlier data for 2009, which showed a contribution to GDP of £49.6 billion, to jobs of 921,000 and to direct taxation of £7.9 billion.