Sale of three BAA airports proposed

12:29am Thursday 21st August 2008

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Competition chiefs have heavily criticised BAA and signalled a potential break up of the company's UK airport empire.

Attacking BAA's performance, the Competition Commission (CC) said it was likely to order BAA to sell Gatwick and Stansted airports in southern England and one of either Glasgow or Edinburgh airports.

The commission said separate owners of the main London and Scottish airports would do a better job than BAA which has faced much criticism of late because of delays, baggage problems and the shambolic opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5.

The commission was also critical of the airport economic regulation role of the Civil Aviation Authority and of Government aviation policy, saying it was "minded" to recommend a review of the 2003 aviation White Paper.

The commission's BAA airport ownership inquiry chairman Christopher Clarke said there were "significant competition problems" arising from BAA's ownership of its seven UK airports which also include Heathrow, Southampton and Aberdeen.

In regard to Spanish-owned BAA, Mr Clarke spoke of a lack of responsiveness to the needs of its airline customers, a lack of initiative in planning capacity, investment not tailored to the requirements of airport users and lower levels and quality of service for both airlines and passengers.

The CC report is expected to lead to keen competition from a number of companies to take over the to-be-sold BAA airports. Manchester Airport Group, which runs four UK airports including Manchester, said it might be interested in acquiring "one or more" of the airports.

The report comes following many months of difficulties for passengers at BAA airports, particularly Heathrow where the shambolic opening of the £4.3 billion Terminal 5 in March this year was the last straw for some customers.

And the Unite union, which represents thousands of civil aviation workers including 6,000 employed directly by BAA said it feared a break-up of BAA could mean job losses.

Unite national secretary Steve Turner added: "Any attempt to break up BAA will be resisted. This union and our members will not sit back while the market plays games with their jobs and their terms and conditions of employment."

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