It seems that the Competition Commission has has enough of BAA, and has ruled it must sell Stansted and either Glasgow or Edinburgh airports.
This is a follow on from the case in 2009 where BAA was instructed to sell Gatwick as well (which it did unwillingly), and challenged the sale of the other airports.
BAA is “dismayed” and is preparing to launch a judicial review – buying more time before it has to sell the airports, calling it a ‘Draconian demand’.
The Competition Commission says:
“that the sales process for Stansted would start in three months’ time, and would be followed by the sale of one of the Scottish airports.”
However, BAA cite that the world has changed, that different markets are served and they’d loose money on any sale that an investor could make money on -and destroy shareholder value.
Unsurprisingly, Ryanair is on the side of the Competition Commission, as is EasyJet who favour going for the best value.
If a review is granted, expect this to play out for a lot longer…..
