BAA has today announced its intention to sell Gatwick Airport, which is the UK's second busiest airport after Heathrow handling 35 million passengers last year.
They currently own Heathrow, Stansted and Scotland's three biggest airports and say that selling London Gatwick Airport would be of benefit to the business, customers and staff.
Their decision follows a report from the Competition Commission last month which identified significant competition problems because of BAA's dominant position and proposed that they stop running two of their three London airports.
BAA want to continue to operate their three other South East airports (which include Southampton) and its three Scottish hubs. However the Competition Commission may well order BAA to also sell Stansted Airport as well as either Glasgow or Edinburgh Airport.
Virgin Atlantic, owned by Sir Richard Branson, immediately stated that they are very interested in this proposal and want to join a bidding consortium for London Gatwick Airport.
Labels: Gatwick Airport