BAA set to be told to sell two airports

Competition chiefs are expected to finally confirm today that airport operator BAA will have to sell two of its airports.

The ruling by the Competition Commission (CC) will end two years of hiatus since an original decision in 2009.

At that time, the commission ruled that BAA would have to sell Gatwick and Stansted airports as well as either Edinburgh or Glasgow airport.

But there were then a series of legal challenges by BAA to the ruling, which ended with the CC findings being upheld.

The CC then considered whether there had been material changes in circumstances since the 2009 ruling.

In a provisional ruling in March this year, the commission said the sale of the airports was still fully justified and that passengers and airlines would still benefit from greater competition with the airports under separate ownership.

BAA has already sold Gatwick. The West Sussex airport was bought by US-based investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners for about 1.5 billion.