BAA to sell Gatwick Airport

Airport operator BAA today announced plans to sell Gatwick Airport.

Colin Matthews, BAA's chief executive, said:

"We have decided to begin the process of selling Gatwick Airport immediately. Gatwick is one of Europe's premier airports, the busiest single-runway airport in the world, and it was used by 35 million passengers last year.

"Gatwick has long been an important and valuable part of BAA and the decision to sell was not taken lightly. We believe that the airport's customers, staff and business will benefit from the earliest possible resolution of current uncertainty.

"When the Competition Commission published its provisional findings, we said that we would be realistic in our response, though we disagree with the Commission's report and the analysis on which it is founded.

"We will continue to present our case, in respect of the South East airports and those in Scotland. At Stansted, we believe that a change of ownership would interfere with the process of securing planning approval for a second runway, which remains a key feature of Government air transport policy.

"The Commission itself states that a shortage of runway capacity in the South East is a main cause of poor service standards, but we believe its proposed remedies will delay delivery of that capacity.

"BAA will continue to change in many respects. We have a new management team. Our priority is to improve the quality of service we offer passengers and airlines.

"Success depends not only on our day to day management of our airports, but also on policy-makers taking the right decisions on runway capacity and future regulation.

"Our response to the Competition Commission's report, and our announcement concerning Gatwick, is intended to focus our efforts accordingly."

Further information from: -
BAA Limited: Malcolm Robertson, 07788 567680
BAA Limited: Damon Hunt, 0208 745 7224
Finsbury: Mike Smith/Don Hunter  020 7251 3801

NOTES TO EDITORS

Read Gatwick Airport press release

BAA will appoint financial advisers soon.

Gatwick is the busiest single-runway airport in the world and the second largest airport in the UK.

Its development strategy for the future focuses on the airport's expansion as a single-runway, two-terminal airport, as it grows to handle around 40 million passengers a year by 2010/2011.