BAA airport ownership may not be in consumers' interest

BAA's ownership of seven airports in the UK may not be in the interests of airlines or passengers, the Competition Commission has warned in a report published today.

The view could pave the way for the Competition Commission to call on BAA to sell one or more of its airports in a further report expected in August.

As part of the "ermerging thinking" report published today, the Commission claimed that there was still a shortage of capacity among UK airports, and that BAA's ownership of so many airports meant that big development projects like T5 were only being carried out one at a time.

BAA, itself owned by Ferrovial controls: Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Southampton and Aberdeen airports.