Plans for a new Luton airport railway station that will enable trains to run directly to the terminal have been approved.
The £200 million scheme has won the green light from Luton Borough Council and the station is due to open by the end of 2020.
A 1.4-mile rail line will be built to the existing Luton Airport Parkway station, replacing a current bus shuttle service.
Passengers are expected to be able to travel between the airport and London in under half an hour.
Current journeys from London to the parkway station take at least 20 minutes with passengers then having to wait for a shuttle bus which takes at least a further ten minutes.
The airport is calling for timetable changes which will introduce four fast trains a hour from central London as part of the upcoming East Midlands rail refranchising process.
The airport rail link is part of a major redevelopment scheme which also includes improvements to surrounding roads and layout of the terminal.
Labour councillor Dave Taylor, chairman of planning at Luton Borough Council, told ther BBC: “It’s an exciting development which will enhance the passenger experience at Luton.
“It was approved by all three parties on the council, unanimously, because the airport is a success story for the town and this improves the accessibility to it.”
London is the fifth-busiest airport in the UK, handling 14.6 million passengers last year, and the airport is predicting that will increase to 18 million by 2020.