Having carefully considered the UK Court of Appeal’s recent ruling, the British Airports Authority has decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court and is now proceeding with the sale of London Stansted Airport. However, it said yesterday: “We still believe that the Competition Commission ruling fails to recognise that Stansted and Heathrow serve different markets.”
In 2009 the Competition Commission ruled that BAA must sell Stansted because of the lack of competition between London airports. BAA was ordered to sell off Stansted and Gatwick, in addition to selling off either Glasgow or Edinburgh airports. Gatwick Airport and Edinburgh Airport have already been sold.
Stansted Airport is London’s third busiest airport and the UK’s fourth busiest airport. It performs an important role as London’s base for low-cost airlines, with approximately 17.5 million passengers and 133,500 flights passing through Stansted every year, and 16 airlines operate from Stansted, serving more than 150 destinations in 32 countries.
The sale of Stansted will leave BAA with four airports: LondonHeathrow, Southampton, Aberdeen, and Glasgow.
