Watchdog: BAA should sell three airports

The Competition Commission has called on airport regulator BAA (website: BAA) to sell three of its seven UK airports in order to appease concerns about market dominance.

Publishing the preliminary findings of its inquiry into airport competition in Scotland and the south-east of England, the watchdog said BAA's dominance is having "adverse consequences" for passengers and airlines.

Pundits had expected it to call for just one airport to be sold off - and BAA has immediately hit back with a warning that the proposal will hurt passengers by stifling plans to expand runway capacities.

When the final decision over the future of the Spanish-owned regulator is made in April, it looks likely that BAA will have to choose between selling off either Gatwick or Stansted airport.

That follows an insistence by the company that it has "no intention" of relinquishing Heathrow, even though inquiry chairman Christopher Clarke told the BBC that the watchdog may yet demand such a move.

Responding to the report, BAA chief executive Colin Matthews noted: "The commission's findings state that the lack of runway capacity is a main reason for … regular delays."

But he added that by calling for a "fundamental restructure of BAA," the watchdog "risks delaying that delivery of new runways and making better customer service less, not more, likely".

© Adfero Ltd