BAA wins claim against competition watchdog in bid to keep city airport

Published on Monday 21 December 2009 09:51

Airport operator BAA today won part of its appeal against a Competition Commission (CC) ruling that it must sell three of its airports, including Edinburgh or Glasgow.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) today concluded "with the greatest reluctance" that a claim by BAA of "apparent bias" in the CC decision was successful.

However, BAA's appeal on the grounds that the CC had not properly taken into account the effects the recession would have on the sale of the airports failed today.

BAA had challenged the legality of the CC decision to make it sell Gatwick and Stansted airports as well as one of either Glasgow or Edinburgh airports.

BAA had put forward a case of "apparent bias" saying that Professor Peter Mozier, one of the CC airports' inquiry panel had "a powerful connection" to the Manchester Airport Group which had been interested in buying Gatwick.

When the appeal was heard in October the appeal panel was told that Professor Mozier's presence meant that the inquiry was "riven through with an acute and intolerable conflict of interests."

Giving his ruling today the appeal tribunal's president Mr Justice Barling said that the apparent bias appeal had succeeded and that it was the unanimous decision of the of the three-strong panel.

He said: "We have reached our conclusions on Ground 1 (the apparent bias) with the greatest reluctance.

"Our conclusion is not that Professor Mozier... was actually biased but that a fair-minded person would have concluded that there was a real possibility of bias."