A new airport in the Thames Estuary would support 336,000 jobs around the country in 2050, according to the mayor of London.

This is around a third more than an expanded Heathrow and more than five times as many jobs as would be created by an expanded Gatwick airport.

The Airports Commission is currently assessing the merits of a new airport in the Thames Estuary as one of the options for boosting aviation capacity in the UK. 

A new study by Oxford Economics reveals the development, which is strongly supported by mayor Boris Johnson, would contribute £92.1 billion to the economy each year by 2050.

The mayor commented: "A new hub airport, properly planned, has the potential to reshape the economic geography of London and the whole of the southeast for decades to come."

According to a new Chamber of Commerce survey, the Kent business community strongly supports the proposal to build a new airport in the Estuary.