Gatwick and Stansted Airports Must be sold in BAA Sale

News at Gatwick 19/12/2008

End of an era for the boarding pass : December 2008 : Ryanair introduces new luggage charge

BAA have now been told that both Stansted and Gatwick airports need to be sold

The Competition Commission has now told BAA that they must sell Gatwick, Stansted and Edinburgh airports which will break up the monopolies they currently hold in the South East and Scotland.

The BAA has until March to appeal otherwise it will be forced to sell three airports in the midst of a recession.

These disposals will add more woes to Ferrovial the Spanish company that owns the majority stake in BAA. It is already debt laden with the takeover in 2006 and the company has been attempting to sell Gatwick Airport and hopes it will fetch its regulated asset base value of £1.8bn but in this climate even this value may not be achieved.

Colin Matthews BAA Chief Executive could barely disguise his displeasure. He spoke afterwards saying “We do not believe that the commission has set out compelling evidence to support its view that selling Stansted as well as Gatwick will increase the competition and we remain concerned that its proposed remedies may actually delay the introductions of new runway capacities”.

Bidders currently include 3i in a consortium with two Canadian funds.

End of an era for the boarding pass : December 2008 : Ryanair introduces new luggage charge

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