BOSSES at the Westcountry's biggest airport have claimed stunting its growth could damage the regional economy.

Responding to a major report suggesting that the aviation industry had to curb expansion in the face of climate change fears, Jamie Christon, managing director of Exeter Airport, said airports in remote corners of country were vital to regional prosperity and helped significantly reduce car miles.

His comments followed the Committee on Climate Change UK stating the industry must significantly limit its growth in flying if it is to meet the Government's pledge of keeping aviation emissions to 2005 levels by mid century.

Measures to curb expansion of aviation to 60 per cent above current levels – compared to predicted uncontrolled rises of 200 per cent by 2050 – will mean higher prices for flying and constraints on airport expansion and the number of flights.

Pressure group AirportWatch South West (AWSW) seized on the report as evidence that Exeter's growth plans had been rendered "out of the question".

But Mr Christon said regional airports should be allowed to grow at the expense building a third runway at Heathrow airport, a policy favoured by the Conservatives and Lib-Dems. He said the existence and growth of an airport in Exeter had dramatically reduced the number of cars on the A303 and M5 driving to airports in London for connecting flights, which generated a greater amount of carbon emissions than flights.

He said plans to grow from its present one million passengers a year to an estimated 1.9 million passengers by 2015 and 3.3 million by 2030 meant Exeter would still have only have a modestly-sized airport compared to other hubs.

Mr Christon said: "We are never going to be a massive airport. All we need is a period of growth to facilitate the need and wants of people in Devon and Cornwall. Heathrow needs to get its house in order in terms of dealing with congestion there. From our point of view, we are doing everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint. A new terminal building will help that aim."

Exeter Airport has pledged to make its ground operations carbon neutral by 2015 and says the fleet of aircraft run by Flybe are the most fuel efficient available.

AWSW co-ordinator Jeremy Birch insisted the Committee on Climate Change had placed a "final limit on aviation expansion".

He said: "Airports will have to deliver actual low carbon growth, not just talk about it. This report puts a hard limit on how much UK airports can expand, and it is well below the aspirations of Exeter's airport's owners. Plans for the airport to grow to 1.9 million passengers by 2015 and 3.2 million passengers by 2030 are now out of the question."