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ClimateNE & Climate Change Schools Project support the move to a low-carbon, resilient economy and help businesses avoid risk and realise commercial opportunities. Posts by Jen Atkinson, Krista McKinzey and Harriet Thew » The Competition Commission's decision that BAA will likely have to sell off three of its UK airports is the only logical outcome of this long overdue inquiry.
The commission's initial findings, published today, are likely to mean the sale of both Stansted and Gatwick plus one of either Edinburgh or Glasgow.
BAA is understandably infuriated by the ruling but it can surely not be surprised.
Its ownership of such a huge swathe of the UK's leading airports can in no sense be good for competition, a point repeatedly made by the bosses of major airlines. The sluggish pace of redevelopment at airports such as Gatwick is an inevitable consequence of the lack of drive to seek to claim customers from its only major rival in the capital, Heathrow.
BAA has not had a good time recently, with the chaos that surrounded the opening of Terminal 5 still fresh in everyone's minds. Ironically, the investment in T5 was one of the few major developments to have taken place at BAA's airports in recent years and the furore over its opening has distracted from the real issue - the failure to ensure that capacity is also developed elsewhere.
Breaking up BAA - which is now in Spanish hands following its sale to Ferrovial - is the only way to ensure that Britain's airports progress. Its dominant position in the market is a quirk of the privatisation process which was supposed to foster a competitive environment.
Perhaps that will finally happen with the sale of some of BAA's key sites.
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