BAA mortgages Stansted Airport runway properties
10.03.10
BAA has mortgaged 39 houses near Stansted airport, many of which it is planning to demolish to make way for a planned second runway, the Telegraph reports. The latest return for Stansted Airport, filed last week at Companies House, shows that BAA has taken out mortgages with Royal Bank of Scotland on properties, offering them as security against the £10.5bn borrowings of BAA (SP) Ltd – the parent company for Stansted and Heathrow airports.
Anti-expansion campaigners said the mortgages proved BAA could not afford the runway at Stansted, where operating profits dived from £81m to £27m last year as passengers fell. Brian Ross, economics adviser for the Stop Stansted Expansion campaign group, told the newspaper: ‘It smacks of desperation when BAA even has to mortgage the very houses it has bought in connection with its second runway plans. How on earth can BAA continue to say that it remains fully committed to a £3bn second runway when it is already mortgaged right up to the hilt. It's a case of Walter Mitty pretending to be Paul Getty.’
However, a BAA spokesman denied the mortgages indicated any financial strain. He said: 'This is just part of the securitisation on all our assets. It is simply the way we are financed.’
To book a stansted airport hotel or stansted airport car park at the lowest price, click on these links to two great stansted airport car parking and stansted airport hotel price comparison pages.
