In all the excitement over that Heathrow third runway, there has been remarkably little mention of recent warnings from the European Commission that, within few months, Heathrow could, at least for a while, be closed to international traffic altogether.

This would create such a crisis that we would no longer be worrying about a third runway but only how to keep its existing two open.

Since last December Heathrow, like all other international airports in the EU, has only been legally authorised to operate at all under a certificate issued on behalf of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) which would automatically lapse the moment we leave the EU.