Sale of BAA Airports could be Overturned

The potential sale of two of London’s Airports, which had been ordered under a Competition Commission ruling earlier this year, has been blocked after an appeal to the courts showed that the original ruling showed “apparent bias”.

The initial ruling in March of this year ordered BAA to sell off both Gatwick, Stansted and one of either Edinburgh or Glasgow Airport to break up the monopoly that BAA had on the UK’s Airports. BAA, who also own Heathrow, already sold Gatwick Airport earlier this year for over £1.5bn and have put other potential sales on hold until the issue is resolved.


The key point of the appeal was whether the inclusion of Professor Peter Moizer on the commission panel created bias as he was also advising one of the key players in the purchase of Gatwick at the same time. After careful deliberation the Competition Appeal Tribunal concluded “with the greatest reluctance” in favour of BAA.

With Sixt having car hire branches at both Heathrow Airport and Stansted Airport we are keen to keep an eye on any further developments from the case and hope that a decision regarding this is reached quickly.

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