BAA ordered to sell airports

Airport operator BAA will still have to sell two of its UK airports following a provisional ruling today by Britain's Competition Commission (CC).

The commission had ruled in 2009 that BAA would have to sell Gatwick and Stansted airports as well as either Edinburgh or Glasgow airport.

Since then there have been legal challenges by BAA to the ruling, which ended with the CC findings being upheld.

BAA has already sold Gatwick and today the CC provisionally concluded that the sale of the other airports should go ahead.

The CC said today it remained convinced the original sale decision was ``the right one for passengers and airlines''.

It added that Stansted should be sold first, with a “small overlap” between that sale and the sale of one of the Scottish airports.

BAA said today: “We will carefully consider the CC’s provisional decision before making any decisions or further statements.

“We believe that there has been a material change in circumstances since the commission’s report was published in March 2009.”

The CC will now invite responses to its provisional decision before publishing a final verdict around May or June this year.

BAA also operates Heathrow, Southampton and Aberdeen airports. It had already decided to sell Gatwick before the 2009 CC ruling and the West Sussex airport was sold for £1.5bn (€1.7bn) in 2009.