BAA to appeal against force sale of UK airports

Posted 16/09/2011

Ryanair has slammed airport owner BAA for seeking another judicial review of the Competition Commission's 2008 ruling requiring it to sell Stansted as well as one of its Scottish airports.

Ferrovial-owned BAA, which also owns London Heathrow plus five other airports in the UK, has already lost an appeal to the Competition Commission, which backed a ruling for the airport operator to sell Stansted followed by Glasgow or Edinburgh.

But on Friday it will submit an appeal for judicial review to the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Ryanair said the appeal would delay the sale of Stansted for a further 12 months. It has already been two years since BAA was ordered to sell the UK airports, but the company is arguing that the airports market has changed significantly since the original decision was announced. Since then, the Coalition Government has ruled out an additional runway for Heathrow.

"This is yet another legal delay to the sale of Stansted, which has been repeatedly delayed by Ferrovial/BAA's  legal manoeuvrings," said Ryanair in a statement issued today.

"While Ferrovial/BAA delays the sale of Stansted, BAA has doubled its passenger charges, traffic has declined over 20%, but BAA's costs have risen by over 30%, with the result that Stansted airlines and passengers are being massively overcharged by Ferrovial/BAA under the CAA's inadequate regulatory regime.

Ryanair has called on the Government to expedite the sale of Stansted and one of the Scottish airports.

By Linsey McNeill
 

Originally published 16 Sep 2011 at: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/398/f/5923/s/1867825c/l/0L0Stravelmole0N0Cstories0C11493910Bphp0Dmpnlog0F1/story01.htm