Court backs BAA airport sell-off

A decision that could force airport operator BAA to comply with an order to sell three of its airports was restored by the Court of Appeal today.

In March last year, the Competition Commission (CC) ruled that BAA must sell Gatwick and Stansted airports as well as one of either Glasgow or Edinburgh.

But BAA successfully appealed against this, with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) finding last December that there was "apparent bias" in the CC's ruling over Gatwick.

In turn, the CC went to the Court of Appeal in June to challenge the CAT decision.

Today, Lord Justice Maurice Kay, Lord Justice Jacob and Lord Justice Patten said that the CAT was wrong to find "apparent bias" and restored the Commission's decision.

They refused BAA's application to appeal to the Supreme Court, although the authority can renew its application direct.