Ryanair backing for BAA sale ruling

Published on Wednesday 21 October 2009 21:10

LAWYERS for budget airline Ryanair yesterday backed the Competition Commission in rejecting claims by BAA that the inquiry which decreed the sale of Gatwick, Stansted and either Edinburgh or Glasgow airports was flawed, writes Martin Flanagan.

Daniel Jowell, instructed by solicitors Nabarro, told the CC appeal tribunal on the inquiry's outcome that it might have been true that the regulator insisting on a two-year timeframe for the sales could cause BAA financial loss.

But Jowell said this had to be balanced against the possibility that a longer timetable would damage the aviation industry and consumer interests.

"It's common sense that the longer consumers have to wait for divestment, the longer they have to suffer the effect of BAA's monopoly," he said.

Jowell also took issue with Spanish-owned BAA's contention at the tribunal earlier this week that there was a "red-hot" conflict of interest in the CC's deliberations.

Professor Peter Moizer, one member of the inquiry panel, was also a strategic adviser to the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, which was going to back Manchester airport's (eventually unsuccessful) bid to take over Gatwick.

Jowell cited legal precedent that a complainant alleging apparent bias "must do so immediately" it became aware of a potential problem, not a long time after the event.

He said BAA had known of Moizer links to the fund since April 2007, when the inquiry was launched.