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Slated for sale: BAA ends its long legal challenge over its ownership of Stansted Airport |
UK. BAA has decided to sell London Stansted Airport, bringing to an end a long legal defence over its ownership of the UK’s fourth busiest airport.
The move follows the Competition Commission’s March 2009 order to BAA to divest London Gatwick and Stansted airports and either Edinburgh or Glasgow (with the sale of Edinburgh to GIP recently agreed). At that time the Commission said that BAA’s common ownership of the airports market gave rise to “adverse effects on competition”.
After a legal challenge by BAA, in July 2011 the Commission underlined its decision to force BAA to sell Stansted. But BAA continued with its judicial review proceedings relating to that decision.
In February this year, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal rejected BAA’s appeal, leaving it with a final option to bring the case before the Supreme Court.
BAA said: “Having carefully considered the Court of Appeal’s recent ruling, BAA has decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court and is now proceeding with the sale of Stansted Airport. We still believe that the Competition Commission ruling fails to recognise that Stansted and Heathrow serve different markets.”
The sale of Edinburgh and Stansted will leave BAA with four airports: Heathrow, Southampton, Aberdeen and Glasgow.
