BAA told to speed up sale of one of its Scots airport

BAA last month said it would seek a judicial review of the UK competition authority’s ruling requiring it to sell off Stansted and either Edinburgh or Glasgow. The commission said yesterday that the sale of one of the two Scottish airports should now not have to wait for a final ruling over the sale of Stansted, which BAA is still contesting.

Although the commission had originally told BAA to dispose of Stansted first, it said it would be “in the interests of affected passengers and airlines” to proceed with the sale of either Glasgow or Edinburgh airport ahead of the Essex airport.

BAA – which also owns Aberdeen airport as well as London Heathrow and Southampton – said it would announce which of the Central Belt airports it will sell shortly. A decision is expected this month and a sale could be completed within a year.

It is thought that Edinburgh airport could command a price tag of between £700 million and £1 billion, and Glasgow up to £500m.

Laurie Price, head of aviation strategy at consultancy Mott McDonald, said he believed Glasgow was the more likely of the two to be sold.

“Edinburgh is in the ascendency and does not have competition from Prestwick siphoning off traffic,” he argued.

Aviation analyst John Strickland of JLS Consulting, said: “Edinburgh is still on a roll and rapidly developing traffic, but Glasgow is putting up a good fight.

“Getting a good price for Edinburgh is the more likely option if there is a financial imperative, but BAA may well take the strategic option of holding on to the strongest airport in Scotland as well as that in England [Heathrow].”

Strickland said the benefits of a sale could include better passenger service and a “real quickening of pace” over developing new routes. One industry source also said BAA may even put