The transport secretary Alistair Darling will offer MPs a list of strategies for dealing with congestion at London's airports, which the aviation industry claims will face a doubling in air traffic within 20 years.
Environmentalists and local residents are limbering up for a battle on the issue. They are sceptical about the forecast growth in travel and claim the economic importance of aviation has been exaggerated.
Although the government will stop short of stating a single preference, Mr Darling will call for consultation on proposals which include a new runway at Heathrow and two extra runways at Stansted.
Gatwick is likely to escape major expansion, thanks to an agreement with West Sussex council dating back to 1979 which rules out new runways before 2019. An outside possibility to cope with excess demand is the construction of a new international airport at Cliffe in north Kent, although the cost would be prohibitive.
Freedom to Fly, a coalition of airlines, tourism chiefs and transport unions, has been formed to back new runways. Its campaign director, Joe Irvin, said yesterday that failure to expand airport capacity would cost the economy £15bn and would add £100 to the cost of an average plane ticket.
Mr Irvin said: "Air travel gives us tremendous opportunities and is vital to the UK economy. If everyone says 'not in my backyard', it'll be disastrous for consumers and the British economy."
But any plan to add to Heathrow's two runways is likely to meet stiff opposition. A public inquiry which approved a fifth terminal at Heathrow recommended a cap of 480,000 flights a year at the airport. Any new runway would take capacity well beyond this level.
John Stewart, chairman of the anti-noise group Hacan Clear Skies, said: "People who live in west London and Berkshire are going to be very, very angry and concerned about this. Less than a year ago, Stephen Byers endorsed the public inspector's report. Less than a year later, the government's saying it's an option to go further."
Airport operator BAA has privately lobbied hard for new runways at Heathrow. It argues that the airport is essential to maintaining London's position as an important hub, where intercontinental passengers change to short-haul European flights.
Environmentalists maintain that the economic benefits are outweighed by pollution and damage to local communities. Paul de Zylva, aviation campaigner for Friends of the Earth, called for "demand management" of aviation through higher fuel taxes and landing charges.
Mr de Zylva said: "If the government was serious about putting aviation on a sustainable footing, it would look at demand management. If people want to use the most polluting form of transport, they should pay the right price to do it."
Expansion at Stansted will require a new high-speed rail service. Some aviation industry sources believe a new airport at Cliffe would be a better long-term solution, although this would destroy a bird sanctuary and would cost an estimated £10bn.
One aviation source said there was a possibility of turning a taxiway into a secondary runway at Gatwick, which could increase capacity by 10% to 15% in the short term by handling takeoffs, while the existing strips take landings.
Brendon Sewill, chairman of the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign, said any expansion of the airport would render nearby villages uninhabitable and would require "the biggest destruction of listed buildings since the second world war".
In addition to the south-eastern study, Mr Darling will publish reports on the long-term outlook for airports in six other regions. Among the most contentious will be a battle over whether to build new runways at Edinburgh or Glasgow.
There could also be proposals to create new local airports from military airfields, including Finningley, near Doncaster.
