Ryanair and easyJet back forced Stansted sale
20.07.11
Budget airlines Ryanair and easyJet have both welcomed the confirmation by the UK Competition Commission that BAA should be forced to sell Stansted and at least one Scottish airport. easyJet said that a sale of the airports will ‘improve service quality’.
Ryanair said that it hopes that the confirmation of the original decision in August 2008 will finally end BAA's policy of using its legal stratagems to delay this sale [BAA has already said it is considering a further legal challenge], and claimed BAA continues to overcharge airlines at Stansted to generate excess monopoly profits, while losing more routes and traffic.
It has called on the Government to intervene and force the early sale of Stansted and one of the Scottish airports 'to allow competition between airports to deliver a better deal for airport users, where the BAA monopoly has repeatedly failed.'
Ryanair also announced that it intends to launch legal proceedings against BAA Stansted, seeking a recovery of the overcharges which Ryanair believes it and other Stansted airlines have suffered. It recently had success in challenging the fee structure at Gatwick, where airlines not using check in desks (as passengers are forced to check in online) were charged the same fee per passenger as those using check in facilities.
An easyJet spokesman said: ‘We support the efforts of the Commission to improve outcomes for passengers in the London and Scotland airport markets. Millions of our passengers travel through these regions each year, and we hope that they will have a better experience at these airports with a change in ownership.'
‘The sale should encourage more timely, well designed and cost effective investment, which will improve service quality and lower charges. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with the new owners of these airports’.
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