BAA wins appeal against airports sale

Possibility of bias" in CC report.

BAA has won its appeal against the order of the Competition Commission (CC) to sell off two of its remaining six airports.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal announced today that there was a "real possibility of bias" in the CC's report which had ordered BAA to sell Gatwick, Stansted and either Glasgow or Edinburgh Airports.

But the airport owner, which has since sold Gatwick, appealed because a member of the CC reporting group, Professor Peter Moizer had connections with a fund which in turn had connections with Manchester Airport Group (MAG), a rival to BAA.

In its report, the Appeal Tribunal said Prof Moizer was a "long-standing fee-paid advisor to the Greater Manchester Pension Fund".

The fund was connected to the ten authorities in Greater Manchester region which have 100% ownership of MAG.

The Tribunal said it "unanimously concluded that in the light of the material facts a fair-minded and informed observer would conclude that there was a real possibility of bias affecting the deliberations, thinking and ultimate outcome of the Investigation."

BAA welcomed the Tribunal's ruling.

It said in a statement:  "We are pleased the Competition Appeal Tribunal upheld our appeal on the grounds of apparent bias. Further discussions should now take place with the Competition Commission, as the CAT suggests, to determine the appropriate response to this judgement."

The CC, a UK consumer watchdog, had ruled in March that BAA, which is owned by the Spanish conglomerate Ferrovial, must sell three of its airports.

In its report, it said a principal reason why it wanted the airports to be sold off was because of the "common ownership by BAA".

CC chairman Christopher Clarke said there was "a complete lack of competition" between the airports in south east England and between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

In its appeal, BAA said the CC report was affected by "apparent bias."
 
BAA said: "This is because of links between a member of the Competition Commission panel and an organisation interested in acquiring the airports that BAA is required to sell."

In October, BAA sold Gatwick Airport to the owners of London City Airport for £1.51bn.

The new owners of Britain's second largest airport are a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which already owns 75% of London City.

www.baa.com  www.catribunal.ork.uk   www.competition-commission.org.uk