Airports for sale

It was no great secret.  BAA Ltd was renamed Heathrow Airport Holdings (HAH) in October 2012.  The obvious was that Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports would at some time be sold off leaving the London hub as a stand-alone. 

It now looks like the day of reckoning for the regional enterprises has come.  Whether they go as a batch, or singularly, remains to be seen.

HAH has issued a statement which said that the Group was “formally entering a sale process”.

It added: "Whilst there is currently no certainty that a sale will be concluded, the group intends to work towards completing a transaction by the end of the year."

To put things in perspective Aberdeen moved 3.4m passenger in 2013 (+3%), Glasgow 7.3m (+3%) and Southampton 1.7m (2%).  The Heathrow figure is 73.2m.

Clearly the HAH senior management attention is focused on the Airports Commission, and how the result of its deliberations will affect the overall development of the airport.  Funds raised by the sales will help with Heathrow’s expansion.

Bristol Airport is also up for sale and London City could have a change of owners in the not too distant future.  www.heathrowairport.com

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