Virgin confirms Gatwick bid talks

Richard Branson’s airline Virgin Atlantic today confirmed it was in talks to form a bidding consortium to run Gatwick airport.

Virgin said low-fare airline easyJet was one of the companies it was in talks with in connection with the airport which current owners BAA have put up for sale.

But easyJet insisted today it was “not in talks with Virgin” and was “not forming or fronting a consortium”.

Virgin spokesman Paul Charles said: “EasyJet is one of the companies we are in talks with about putting together a consortium to own and operate Gatwick.

“We are talking to various parties at the moment, including financial institutions.”

BAA put Gatwick up for sale effectively to pre-empt a likely ruling from the Competition Commission next year that it must sell Gatwick and Stansted airports and also one of either Glasgow or Edinburgh airports.

Virgin and any possible partners would face tough competition to run Gatwick. Other interested parties include the Manchester Airport Group, Hochtief of Germany and Australia’s Macquarie company.

Figures of between £2bn (€2.33bn) and £2.5bn (€2.9bn) have been suggested for the Gatwick sale price. But analysts believe that in the current recession the eventual price will be much lower.