BAA ordered to sell Stansted and one Scottish airport
The Competition Commission has ordered airport operator BAA to sell off Stansted as well as Gatwick and either Glasgow or Edinburgh within two years in its final report on BAA’s ownership of seven UK airports.
The report considered competition between non BAA airports, such as Manchester and Cardiff, including marketing teams efforts to attract and retain passengers and airlines as part of evidence that led to the conclusion that BAA’s current dominance was anti-competitive.
Inquiry chairman Christopher Clarke says the sell order is the “only way to address comprehensively the detriment to passengers and airlines from the complete absence of competition.”
“We recognize that in using our powers in this way, we will have a
significant impact on BAA’s business,” he says in a statement released this morning (March 19). “However, given the nature and scale of the competition problems we have found, we do not consider that alternative measures, such as the sale of only one of the London airports or greater regulation, will suffice.”
BAA, which is now owned by Spanish company Ferrovial, recently axed the job of former easyJet and Travelodge marketer Alistair Buckle, who had held the title innovation and new product development manager at BAA.
BAA’s marketing and insight director is Nick Adderley and the company uses Masius for its advertising and Carat for its media planning.
