Ferrovial's BAA likely to have to sell two airports

BAA, a unit of Spain's Ferrovial, looks likely to have to sell Stansted airport in the London area and either Glasgow or Edinburgh airport in Scotland after the UK anti-trust authority said it saw no reason to back down from an earlier ruling to do so.

The Competition Commission (CC) said Wednesday that there had been no "material change in circumstances" since a recommendation in 2009 to sell the airports. BAA sold Gatwick airport in the London area in October in anticipation of a negative ruling by the CC.

The CC's earlier decision was subject to a legal challenge by BAA, which eventually culminated with the reinstatement of the watchdog's findings in October 2010. In February of this year, the Supreme Court refused BAA permission to appeal further.

In a brief statement issued Wednesday, BAA continued to insist the circumstances surrounding the CC's rulings in 2009 had changed, adding it would "carefully consider" the CC's decision. BAA had pointed to the UK government's policy of ruling out new runway capacity in southeast England.

"The CC has provisionally concluded that the sale of the airports is fully justified and that passengers and airlines would still benefit from greater competition with the airports under separate ownership," the regulator said yesterday. The CC invited responses before publishing its final verdict in May or June.