Stansted must be sold

The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, which includes legal specialists and industry experts, has rejected an appeal by BAA Ltd to overturn a Competition Commission judgment that London’s Stansted Airport must be sold.  Two years ago BAA disposed of Gatwick in advance of being forced to do so, and now has elected to sell Edinburgh as part of the ruling.   

BAA claimed there had been material changes since the 2009 decision when the economic outlook was better and the throughput of Stansted was at least 30% higher.  It also argued that it was not reasonable to consider Stansted as serving the same market as Heathrow, given that the airport was dominated by one carrier (Ryanair) with 80% of the passenger throughput.

A BAA spokesperson said: “We are disappointed by the decision of the Competition Appeal Tribunal which we will now carefully consider before making any further statements.” www.baa.com

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