Heathrow’s overseas backers have flown in the face of any fears surrounding Britain’s triggering Article 50, its two-year divorce from the EU by pledging £650m in investments for major projects.

The London airport, which deals with more than 75m passengers every year, said its consortium of investors would spend the cash in 2019 on projects likely to include the expansion of Terminal 2 and a new southern access tunnel for road traffic to the airport.

The details of those projects will now be worked on by Heathrow and presented to the airport’s shareholders for approval.