Competition Commission announce BAA probe details
09.08.07
As expected, the Competition Commission published an issued statement (note: fairy large pdf document) today on an investigation into the dominance of airport operator BAA and its planned a wide ranging examination of the UK airports market. It said that the study into the market domination of the airport operator will focus on the firm's level of customer service.
Spanish firm Ferrovial, which led a consortium that bought BAA for £10.1 billion last year, has faced criticism for overcrowding, long security queues and technical glitches in baggage handling equipment at Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport.
There has been media speculation that Ferrovial may be forced to sell one or more of its three London airports - Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted - and perhaps one of its Scottish airports - Aberdeen, Edinburgh or Glasgow - as it controls over 90% of both markets.
However, the Commission said in a statement: 'At this stage, we have no preconceived ideas of what our conclusions might be; and if we were to identify competition problems, what the appropriate remedies might be.'
The Commission said it aimed to publish its 'emerging thinking' in early 2008 and its provisional findings around this time next year. A final report with remedies is expected by the end of next year, however, is this goes against BAA, it could then appeal the decision.
BAA says lack of capacity is the issue, not its ownership of seven UK airports. Chief Executive Stephen Nelson said: 'Many of the issues identified by the Commission today have complex and deep-seated causes that require careful consideration. BAA accepts that the experience of too many passengers using London airports is unsatisfactory. But the problems of congestion and delay which affect passengers have their roots in lack of terminal and runway capacity, not the ownership structure of BAA.'
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