Airport News
BAA has lost the final stage in a three-year battle against the Competition Commission to keep hold of Stansted Airport, The Telegraph has reported.
BAA will now be forced to sell of the Essex asset following the judgment by the Court of Appeal in London to uphold the 2009 regulatory decision aimed at reducing the operator’s hold on the UK aviation industry.
The airport operator has already sold off Gatwick and Edinburgh airports to Global Infrastructure Partners in December 2009 and April 2012 respectively as part of the Competition Commissions ruling.
Laura Carstensen, a member of the Commission team investigating BAA’s case, said, “We are pleased that our decision on Stansted Airport has once again been upheld. It remains the right decision in the interests of passengers and airlines and it is surely now time for BAA to accept the verdict and proceed with the sale.”
According to The Telegraph, Manchester Airports Group has been tipped as a possible buyer for the £1 billion airport.
BAA chief executive Colin Matthews had been hoping the ruling would be overturned, warning that a forced sale in the current depressed market would discourage foreign shareholders from investing in the UK and would have a “damaging impact” for overseas shareholders.
“Those are the same shareholders by the way who are currently investing £100m a year in Heathrow,” he said. “You can’t think why the country as a whole would wish to discourage inbound flows of equity because we depend on that to fund infrastructure.”
Passenger numbers have been falling at Stansted Airport since 2007, with the half-year results published yesterday (25 July) showing a 4.5% drop in numbers to 8.2 million passenger during the first six months of the year.
