‘BAA break-up not answer to poor service problem’

BREAKING up BAA’s ownership of Britain’s main airports isn’t the answer to the problem of poor service, British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh has said.

Mr Walsh was quoted in the British media as saying that instead of BAA being forced to sell three of its seven airports, as proposed by the Competition Commission last week, the Civil Aviation Authority should administer stronger regulations to encourage better service.

BAA — which owns the three main London airports of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted — was told by the commission that it would likely have to sell two of its London airports and one of either Edinburgh or Glasgow airports in an attempt to promote better competition in the sector.

A final ruling on the matter — with BAA formally being told exactly what it must do — isn’t expected to be made until the first quarter of next year.

Another report in the press, over the weekend, suggested that BAA is gearing up to appeal the final recommendation, which could place further delays on the sale of the group’s big airport assets. Estimates have it that such an appeal could add on up to another year to the entire process.

Although many commentators and airlines — including Ryanair, which has its biggest European hub at the BAA-owned Stansted — have long since criticised the ownership of London’s main airports, BAA chairman, Nigel Rudd, was quoted at the weekend saying that the Competition Commission’s recommendations were “ill thought out, inconsistent and could put back investment and expansion of Britain’s airports and infrastructure by years”.

One of the commission’s final decisions will be whether to allow BAA to conduct its own sales process on its own terms or to appoint an independent trustee to handle the entire process.