Airports operator BAA has lost its appeal against a Competition Commission ruling that it must sell Stansted Airport in Essex.
Three judges at the Court of Appeal in London today upheld the 2009 ruling that Spanish-owned BAA must sell Stansted and two of its other UK airports. BAA has already sold Gatwick and Edinburgh airports.
However, the airports operator said its battle to cling on to Stansted, which is the only London airport with significant capacity to grow, does not end today as it plans to take its appeal to the Supreme Court.
A BAA spokesperson said: "We are disappointed that the Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of the Competition Commission. We will now consider its judgement carefully and we intend to submit an appeal to the Supreme Court."
BAA chief executive Colin Matthews told the Guardian newspaper yesterday that although Stansted’s traffic has continued to decline this year, he was confident it would rebound rapidly when the economy starts to recover.
Meanwhile, the BBC is reporting that trains from Heathrow to London were shut down for an hour this morning, during the busiet time in the airport’s history.
A fire at a station in west London forced the closure of the line between Heathrow and Paddington, causing delays for thousands of tourists arriving in London on the eve of the Olympics.
Services are reported to be back up and running.
By Linsey McNeill
