BAA may appeal forced sale of UK airports

It is expected that the Competition Commission will reject BAA’s lobbying efforts to retain ownership of Heathrow and Stansted airports in London as well as its three airports in Scotland.

The watchdog is expected to publish its “provisional decision on remedies” on Wednesday, and it is likely that it will maintain its earlier position that BAA be required to “sell two of its three London airports and also either Edinburgh or Glasgow.” The final decision on a break-up of the monopolistic holdings will be made in March.

BAA, owned by Spanish construction giant Ferrovial, has been angered by the Commission’s stance, saying that the analysis conducted by the regulator is “flawed” and that its requirements to sell off the airports are likely to create “uncertainty, delay and confusion at exactly the wrong time.”

The airports owner is claiming that forcing the sale of the airports will cause significant delays in government plans to expand needed capacity in the south-east of England.

BAA is also insisting that it will be next to impossible to realize reasonable prices for the airports given current economic conditions.

Thanks to www.telegraph.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

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