Dismantling of British airport monopoly expected

Competition chiefs are expected to pave the way for a major shake-up of the ownership of some of the UK's biggest airports.

In a preliminary report published tomorrow, the Competition Commission (CC) is likely to recommend a break up of airport operator BAA's "monopoly" of south east England airports which comprise Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

The commission will also give its views on BAA's ownership of its four other UK airports - Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

In an "emerging thinking" document published in April this year, the CC said that BAA's common ownership of the UK airports "may not be serving well the interests of either airlines or passengers".

Last weekend, BAA chairman Nigel Rudd said he expected the commission to recommend the sell-off of Gatwick or Stansted - or both - together with one of his company's Scottish airports.

It is believed that a number of international firms are interested in taking over Gatwick should BAA be forced to end its stewardship of the West Sussex airport.

One of the possible buyers could be the UK's Manchester Airport Group which runs Manchester, East Midlands, Bournemouth and Humberside airports.

Today's CC report, which will be followed by a final report expected before the end of the year, comes at a time of mounting criticism of Spanish-owned BAA.

The company has had to bear the brunt of passenger and political ire during a period where increased customer numbers, stricter baggage regulations, continuous computer glitches and the disastrous Heathrow Terminal 5 opening have combined to the detriment of the airport travelling experience for millions.

In its April report, the CC said it had concerns about BAA's "apparent lack of responsiveness to the differing needs of its airline customers, and hence passengers".

It added that there were also worries about "BAA's approach to the system of planning airport development".

Rudd said that any break-up of the BAA UK airport empire would not be a disaster for the company, but said a break-up would do little to increase competition at Heathrow, the UK's biggest and most important airport.

He stressed that Heathrow did not compete with Gatwick or Stansted or with non-BAA airports such as Luton or Manchester but competed with the likes of Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam's Schipol airport.

Today, UK shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers said: "The Competition Commission should not duck the challenge. BAA should be broken up so that it no longer has such a dominant hold over airport capacity in London and the south east.

"They have let down their passengers by providing poor service and Heathrow hassle is now notorious. We want to see much more competition between our airports meaning both airlines and passengers get a better deal and less travel misery and poor service."