BAA, the airports operator, has won permission for a £250m expansion of Stansted airport by a margin of one vote after a knife-edge meeting of local councillors.
Uttlesford district council gave the go-ahead which will allow the airport to handle an extra 10m passengers a year, despite protests from residents concerned about noise.
Under the proposal, Stansted will expand from 15m passengers a year to 25m by 2010, taking it close to the size of Gatwick's existing infrastructure, which handles 32m people a year.
BAA's chief executive, Mike Hodgkinson, has been pressing hard for the decision, which goes to deputy prime minister John Prescott for final approval.
The company said it was "delighted", although its shares fell 5p to 525p.
Anti-expansion activists expressed frustration, saying BAA's cash pile made it difficult to have a balanced debate. Norman Mead, chairman of the Stop Stansted Expansion campaign, said: "They've produced volumes of glossies in their submission. There's an imbalance between them as a company and our local authorities."
Stansted is an important battleground in the government's airport expansion strategy. A consultation paper from transport secretary Alistair Darling in July suggested building up to three extra runways at the airport, replacing Heathrow as Britain's main aviation hub.
Monthly figures published by BAA yesterday showed further signs of recovery from the terrorist crisis. The number of passengers passing through its seven UK airports rose 2.3% to 13.2 million in August.
