His absence did not go unnoticed. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said Johnson, who represents the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency near Heathrow, should resign.

"If he is unable to be present, then we have to ask the question what on Earth is he doing and who is he representing?" Corbyn said.

Shouts of "Where's Boris?" could be heard in the Commons as lawmakers spoke out against Heathrow expansion plans.

Johnson, in a letter to councilors in his parliamentary district obtained by the Evening Standard newspaper, said that staying in the Cabinet would allow him to keep fighting against the runway.

"Some of my critics have suggested that I should resign over the issue. No doubt they have my best interests at heart," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "But it is clear from what is likely to be a large majority of (lawmakers) who are in favor of a third runway that my resignation would have achieved absolutely nothing."Business groups were elated at a decision that took decades of debate.

"The race for global competitiveness is well underway and the UK must now be quick off the mark - work on the new runway should start as soon as possible." Said Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of trade group, the CBI. "The prize is tens of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of growth for the British economy.

Some airline CEOs quickly applauded the decision. Craig Kreeger, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, said the vote sent "a strong signal to the world that we're open for business."But the view was not universal. Willie Walsh, the CEO of IAG, the parent company of British Airways, said Parliament had little idea of the costs involved.

"We have zero confidence in Heathrow's management's ability to deliver this project while keeping airport charges flat," he said, adding that IAG was looking to the regulator, the CAA, "to fulfil its role to protect consumers and stop Heathrow rewarding its shareholders to the detriment of the UK."In a reflection of the divisiveness of the vote, former Conservative Party Transport Secretary Justine Greening — who broke with her party to reject expansion — told lawmakers the story of Heathrow was one of "broken promises, broken politics and broken economics".

"People simply get ignored in this process, you actually have to be either a big business or, I think, a big union before your voice counts, and that is totally unacceptable," she said.