CC welcomes CAT verdict on BAA Stansted Appeal
1 Feb 2012
The Competition Commission (CC) has welcomed the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s (CAT’s) decision to uphold the decision to require BAA to sell Stansted Airport.
Chairman of the BAA Remedies Implementation Group and a member of the original Inquiry Group which reported in 2009, Laura Carstensen, said:
'We are very pleased that our decision has been upheld. Whilst BAA is of course entitled to explore the available avenues for challenge, it is now surely time for BAA to accept our findings and proceed with the necessary divestments.
'BAA is in the process of selling Edinburgh Airport following our ruling. We will now press ahead to ensure that this is followed promptly by the sale of Stansted Airport, to the benefit of passengers and airlines.'
Notes for editors
1. The CC’s original decision of March 2009 (PDF, 56 Kb) stated that Stansted Airport and one of either Glasgow and Edinburgh airports should be sold—along with Gatwick Airport which BAA had decided to sell by that point.
2. The March 2009 decision was subject to a legal challenge by BAA, which eventually culminated in the Court of Appeal (PDF, 28 Kb) reinstating the CC’s findings in October 2010. In February, the Supreme Court refused BAA permission to appeal further (PDF, 28 Kb) .
3. In July 2011, the CC concluded a consideration of whether there had been any material changes in circumstances (PDF, 34 Kb) since it published its final report on BAA in March 2009 that should give it cause to reconsider the implementation of the airport sales 1 required by that original decision. The CC concluded that the sale of the airports was fully justified and that passengers and airlines would benefit from greater competition with the airports under separate ownership, despite the current Government’s decision to rule out new runways at any of the London airports.
4. Subsequently BAA appealed the decision on the Stansted sale to the CAT. In light of that, the CC then brought forward the requirement to sell one of the Scottish airports. BAA has now started the process of selling Edinburgh Airport.
5. The BAA Remedies Implementation Group consists of: Laura Carstensen (Chairman of the Group,Jayne Almond, Jill Hill and John Smith. Former CC Chairman Peter Freeman stepped down as Chairman of the Group last year when his term as a CC member ended. Dr Peter Davis also stepped down from the Group after resigning his post as CC Deputy Chairman.
6. Media enquiries should be directed to Rory Taylor or Siobhan Allen or by ringing 020 7271 0242.
