Mr Leo, who was speaking after Heathrow’s first quarter financial results on Monday, said: “Over the last two months we have been engaging in a significant, extensive and intensive consultation with the communities around us.
“One thing we have discovered - and obviously that will be included in our submission [next month] - we have more supporters than the headlines would say because normally people remain silent when they want these things to happen but they are very vocal when they oppose."
Mr Leo added: “We are learning from the potential errors and gaps from the former proposal - the one which was dropped in 2010. We think the [new] north-west runway option is much more consistent with the need to be responsible in terms of noise and impact on local communities. It will be a very different proposal from the 2010 one and I think this is recognised locally.”
However John Stewart, chairman of the Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (HACAN), said the two third runway campaigns cannot be accurately compared as the same level of data was not collected last decade on how many people supported - and opposed - expansion.
He said: “They [Heathrow] are in no position to make inaccurate comparisons with 10 years ago.”
Heathrow will submit its refined proposals to the Airports Commission, which is chaired by Sir Howard Davies, on May 14. Its latest proposals will address claims about the potential impact on the M25 of building a north-west runway.
The airport on Monday reported a significant reduction in its first quarter pre-tax losses, from £196m to £15m, and a 31.8pc increase in adjusted operating profit to £319m on revenue of £576m, up 10.8pc.
However Mr Leo insisted the first quarter result was exceptional and operating profit is likely to grow at a more moderate rate of 8.5pc over the full year.
Heathrow has been at loggerheads with airlines over take-off and landing charges, which are passed on to passengers via ticket prices.
Until March 31, Heathrow was able to raise fees by 7.5pc above inflation every year but a new settlement with the UK’s airports regulator, which came into effect on April 1, will limit annual increases to inflation minus 1.5pc until December 31 2018.
“This is not what we expect for the rest of the year,” Mr Leo said of the first quarter results.
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