The government was fiercely criticised by travel and business groups in December when it delayed a decision on whether Heathrow or Gatwick should be allowed to build a new runway.

The Airports Commission has recommended a third runway at Heathrow but the government has put back its decision for “at least” six months to do more work on the environmental impact of three shortlisted options, including the extension of an existing Heathrow runway.

McLoughlin is due to make a speech at the British Air Transport Association’s (Bata) annual dinner on Wednesday and a copy of his speech has been leaked to The Telegraph.

“I know that many in the industry were disappointed that we delayed the final decision,” McLoughlin is set to tell Bata members.

“It wasn’t something I took lightly but when opponents of expansion hailed the delay as some sort of victory they could not have been more wrong. The decision was delayed because it was the right thing to do.”

The government is doing more work on the impact of expansion at Heathrow or Gatwick including carbon targets, noise and air quality, as well as carrying out extra “economic analysis” of the potential benefits of new runways to the UK regions.

“We will make a decision once this work is finished. It will be the right decision for Britain,” McLoughlin will say.