BAA 'will be forced to sell one airport'
BAA's monopoly on airports in southeast England and Scotland is harming passenger interests, the UK Competition Commission is believed to have concluded.
Today's UK newspaper, Financial Times (FT), says there is an increasing likelihood that the Spanish-owned company will be forced to sell some operations.
The watchdog is to unveil plans for possible reforms to ownership and regulation next week, focusing on the lack of rivals to BAA, which is owned by Ferrovial, says the FT.
The Commission's findings are likely to spark debate about the future of national economic assets that are in crisis because of flight delays, underinvestment and a lack of long-term planning.
Legal observers see the findings as an important step towards an order for BAA to sell at least one of its four English airports and one of its three Scottish ones because other solutions – such as toughening regulation or changing planning laws – are out of the watchdog's control.
The competition watchdog's provisional findings after more than 16 months of investigation will stick closely to its suggestion this year that BAA's ownership of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and four other British airports “adversely affected” competition and might not be “serving well the interests of either airlines or passengers”, people involved in the probe have told the FT.
The commission now has little more than seven months to decide how to deal with the complex problems that have been mounting amid the lack of significant reform to a framework of airport ownership and regulation put in place when BAA was privatised more than 20 years ago.
The watchdog has asked for information from other companies, including rival airport operators, so that it can model what an industry under wider ownership might look like.
BAA, adds the FT, has told the commission a break-up of the group would do little to expedite the building of runways in the southeast, which it claims is the main obstacle to a better deal for travellers.
http://www.passengerterminaltoday.com/news.php?NewsID=7340
BAA's monopoly on airports in southeast England and Scotland is harming passenger interests, the UK Competition Commission is believed to have concluded.
Today's UK newspaper, Financial Times (FT), says there is an increasing likelihood that the Spanish-owned company will be forced to sell some operations.
The watchdog is to unveil plans for possible reforms to ownership and regulation next week, focusing on the lack of rivals to BAA, which is owned by Ferrovial, says the FT.
The Commission's findings are likely to spark debate about the future of national economic assets that are in crisis because of flight delays, underinvestment and a lack of long-term planning.
Legal observers see the findings as an important step towards an order for BAA to sell at least one of its four English airports and one of its three Scottish ones because other solutions – such as toughening regulation or changing planning laws – are out of the watchdog's control.
The competition watchdog's provisional findings after more than 16 months of investigation will stick closely to its suggestion this year that BAA's ownership of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and four other British airports “adversely affected” competition and might not be “serving well the interests of either airlines or passengers”, people involved in the probe have told the FT.
The commission now has little more than seven months to decide how to deal with the complex problems that have been mounting amid the lack of significant reform to a framework of airport ownership and regulation put in place when BAA was privatised more than 20 years ago.
The watchdog has asked for information from other companies, including rival airport operators, so that it can model what an industry under wider ownership might look like.
BAA, adds the FT, has told the commission a break-up of the group would do little to expedite the building of runways in the southeast, which it claims is the main obstacle to a better deal for travellers.
http://www.passengerterminaltoday.com/news.php?NewsID=7340
