Competition Commission loose BAA airport sale appeal bid
26.02.10
The forced sale of both Stansted and Glasgow or Edinburgh airports has been thrown in to further confusion that could see the original ruling to break up owner BAA thrown out or massively extended after the Competition Commission lost an attempt to have the disputed ruling referred to the Court of Appeal.
The Commission ruled last March that one of the two biggest Scottish airports should be sold along with Stansted and Gatwick. BAA sold Gatwick even though the ruling was overturned in December by the Competition Appeal Tribunal on the basis of ‘apparent bias' - because a member of the commission’s panel had connections with Manchester Airport Group.
Yesterday the commission lost an attempt to have the case referred to the Court of Appeal. The watchdog now intends to apply directly to the court, but press reports suggest that, even if successful, the initial two-year timescale could be doubled by further delays and separate inquiries.
BAA is likely to want to sell airports in order to pay down its massive debt pile, but wants to do so on its own timescale, once markets have recovered, especially after losing £277m on the sale of Gatwick. It seems to have had its wishes granted.
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