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July 20, 2011

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BAA ordered to sell airports


BRITISH airport operator BAA must begin selling off London Stansted airport and one of its Scottish hubs, Britain's Competition Commission said in its final report on BAA's position.

The report yesterday upheld a decision reached by the commission in March when it rejected an appeal by the BAA, the owner of London Heathrow - Europe's busiest airport - to prevent it from being forced to sell Stansted, in southeast England.

"The CC has concluded that the sale of the airports is fully justified and that passengers and airlines would still benefit from greater competition with the airports under separate ownership, despite the current government's decision to rule out new runways at any of the London airports," the commission said in a statement.

"The sales process will start in three months, or sooner if undertakings are accepted from BAA in the meantime."

The decision ends a two-year battle between BAA and the commission, which in 2009 ruled BAA had a dominant hold on British airports and told it to sell Gatwick and Stansted airports and one of its Scottish airports.

BAA, which owns Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports in Scotland, as well as Heathrow, Southampton and Stansted in England, said it was mulling its legal options.

"This decision would damage our company,'' it said.





 

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