London’s Stansted airport has attracted three final bids each worth about £1bn (€1.2bn), according to sources.

It was one of the most controversial road schemes ever built — but now the M3 motorway is making tens of millions of euro in profits for its private operator.

The Chinese government’s main sovereign wealth fund says it has bought a 10% stake in the operator of London’s Heathrow airport, expanding its investments in British infrastructure.

Ryanair has been forced to withdraw from any bid for London’s third-busiest airport, Stansted, after being informed that Ferrovial, the airport’s owners, will exclude any bid including the Irish airline.

Ryanair is planning on buying a stake in London’s Stansted Airport after competition authorities in the UK won a court case forcing the break-up of the BAA airport monopoly.

A Qatari government investment fund says it has reached a deal to buy 20% of the company that operates London’s Heathrow, Stansted and other British airports.

More than a fifth of flights departing from Heathrow Airport were delayed last year, operator BAA said today, although this was an improvement on snow-hit 2010.

BAA, the owner of London’s Heathrow and Stansted airports, said passenger numbers edged up by 0.6% in the period to 18.7 million in the three months to March.

GROUND staff at airport operator BAA have voted to strike in a dispute over pay, the union Unite said, a move which could shut many of Britain’s busiest airports.

The number of passengers using BAA’s six airports slumped 22.7% last month after huge disruption to UK and European flights caused by the volcanic ash cloud, figures from the Heathrow owner revealed today.

UK airports operator BAA today unveiled a deal to sell Gatwick to the owner of London City Airport for just over £1.5bn (€1.65bn).

The armed Basque separatist group Eta today claimed responsibility for a series of recent attacks, including a car bomb in Madrid.

British airport operator BAA’s £9.6bn (€10.8bn) debt mountain weighed it down in the first three months of 2009 despite a boost from higher airport fees, the firm said today.

Airport operator BAA put the For Sale sign up over Gatwick airport today in a move likely to spark a lively bidding war.

The George Best Belfast City Airport has been sold for nearly four times what its owners paid just five years ago, it was announced today.

The under-fire owner of Britain’s biggest airports today unveiled the completion of a £13bn (€16bn) refinancing.

A series of international firms were today reported to be targeting Gatwick Airport as owner BAA faced being broken up by competition bosses.

Airports operator British Airport Authority today counted the cost of tighter security measures and money spent on the troubled launch of Heathrow's Terminal 5 as it reported a £51m (€64.2m) operating loss for the first three months of the year.

George Best Belfast City Airport has been put up for sale by its Spanish owners, it was confirmed today.

The UK’s second largest airport operator today signalled it would be interested in buying Gatwick Airport if its Spanish owner is forced to sell it.

Airport operator BAA – under fire for the Heathrow Terminal 5 fiasco – will tomorrow get the first official indication of whether it will be forced to break up its UK airport empire.

British irports operator BAA today announced the sale of its World Duty Free business in a deal worth £546.6m (€719m).

The head of under-fire UK airport operating company BAA is to step down, the Spanish-owned firm is expected to announce later today.

Talks aimed at averting a series of New Year strikes at airports including Heathrow and Gatwick ended without agreement tonight.

Cutbacks by low-cost airlines hit passenger numbers at Stansted Airport in November, operator BAA said today.

British airports operator BAA today revealed it spent an additional £39m (€55m) on security and improvements during the first nine months of this year.

BAA today said its UK airports handled 10.9 million passengers in December, a 1.6% rise on the figure seen in the previous year.

Heathrow and Gatwick owner BAA said today the summer terror scare slashed profits by £21m (€31.3m).

The ownership of airports in the UK is facing its first major shake-up for nearly 20 years – sparking a war of words between BAA and the airlines over how to deliver a better service for travellers.

The battle for steel group Corus (formerly British Steel) intensified today after Brazilian firm CSN dramatically trumped a takeover offer from Indian rival Tata.

BAA said today it handled a total of 10.6 million passengers in November, a year-on-year increase of 2.1% despite a slowdown at Heathrow.

A consortium including the Spanish construction group Ferrovial was today in poll position to construct two major road schemes in the North.

Spanish construction company Grupo Ferrovial said today that it sold its 50% stake in the UK’s Bristol Airport to Australia’s Macquarie Bank for £106m (€157.1m), while postponing the planned sale of a stake in Sydney Airport.

Scottish Power shares made fresh gains today amid speculation that a Spanish company could be about to offer £12bn (€17.8bn) for the energy supplier.

Bid interest in British Gas owner Centrica reared up again today as investors took a punt on the possibility of a takeover move from Russia’s Gazprom.

The future of BAA was cast into doubt today after the UK consumer watchdog confirmed it would carry out a study into the airports market.

More than £35bn (€36.4bn) was wiped from the value of London’s top shares after a series of interest rate rises worldwide put the skids under markets.

Investors ran for cover today as world markets reacted badly to a surprise hike in interest rates in South Korea.

BAA today appeared to have grounded the hopes of a financial consortium looking to land a rival bid for the airports operator.

Shares on both sides of the Atlantic were in positive territory today as bargain hunters moved in after yesterday’s falls.

The FTSE 100 Index drifted lower today after heavy losses in New York and Japan overshadowed gains by Morrisons and Cadbury Schweppes.

A Spanish company tonight looked to have won a dramatic £10bn (€14.5bn) takeover battle for control of the UK’s biggest airports.

The FTSE 100 Index fell back below the 5700 mark today despite excitement over strong figures from Severn Trent and the proposed sale of airports operator BAA.

The proposed sale of airports operator BAA to Spain caused excitement in London today but was not enough to spare the market from another session in the red.