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BAA selling Gatwick airport after regulator’s report

London’s Gatwick Airport was put up for sale yesterday following pressure from government regulators who believe the owner controls too many airports.

BAA Ltd, which also owns Heathrow and Stansted airports, said it decided to sell following the Competition Commission’s provisional report on Aug. 20, which recommended that the company dispose of two of its three London airports.

Virgin Atlantic Airways quickly expressed its interest in buying Gatwick. Other potential bidders reportedly include Global Infrastructure Partner, the GE-Credit Suisse Investment fund, Australia’s Macquarie Group and Hochtief of Germany.

BAA has previously said it would not sell Heathrow, and it added yesterday that it was determined to hold on to Stansted, north of London.

BAA also operates airports at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen in Scotland, and Southampton in England. The Competition Commission recommended that it sell either Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Gatwick, the second-busiest airport in the UK, handles 35 million passengers a year.

“Gatwick has long been an important and valuable part of BAA and the decision to sell was not taken lightly. We believe that the airport’s customers, staff and business will benefit from the earliest possible resolution of current uncertainty,” said Colin Matthews, the company’s chief executive.

At Stansted, he added, “we believe that a change of ownership would interfere with the process of securing planning approval for a second runway, which remains a key feature of government air transport policy.”

Virgin chief executive Steve Ridgway said the company “would relish the opportunity to bid for Gatwick as part of a consortium and inject our customer service expertise into any future running of the airport.”

“But Gatwick doesn’t just need a new owner, it needs a much tougher regulatory system,” he said.

A union representing airport workers was dismayed by the news.

“It simply beggars belief that a ‘for sale’ sign can be hung across the country’s second largest airport,” said Steve Turner, national officer of the Unite union.

“Gatwick is a core component of the national infrastructure and an essential part of the UK’s aviation sector yet it is to be flogged off with little care for the wider social impact,” Turner said.

BAA was formed from the privatization of the British Airports Authority in 1986. The company was taken over in 2006 by a consortium led by Spain’s Grupo Ferrovial.
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