As development director, he has been responsible for delivering the £1bn annual investment in transforming Heathrow, including the new Terminal 2.

He was previously chief executive of Taylor Wimpey UK and an operations director at Taylor Woodrow Developments.

Heathrow announced on 1 April that Colin Matthews will be standing down as chief executive officer.

John Holland-Kaye said: “My aspiration is to improve Heathrow as much in the next five years as we have in the last five years.”

Colin Matthews said: “Under John’s leadership the company will continue to raise standards of passenger experience, improve efficiency and reduce costs.

“John has played a pivotal role in the delivery of the new Terminal 2, which is a further important step in the transformation of Heathrow. John has also been heavily involved in developing the new approach to Heathrow expansion which has been shortlisted by the Airports Commission.”