BAA 'forced' to sell off airports

Sir Nigel Rudd said in a BBC interview that he believed BAA would be forced to sell off some of its key airports - such as Gatwick or Stansted.

But while he accepted that such a ruling would not be a "disaster" for the company, he insisted that it would do little to increase competition at its main airport, Heathrow.

BAA, which was bought by the Spanish property group Ferrovial 2006, has a near monopoly on airports in South east England and Scotland - owning Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen.

It has been widely criticised for poor passenger facilities and excessive airline charges, culminating in the fiasco of the opening of Heathrow's Terminal Five earlier this year.

Sir Nigel accepted that in its provisional findings to be published next week, the Competition Commission was likely to recommend the sell-off of Gatwick or Stansted - or both - together with one of the Scottish airports.

"All things that I'm hearing, they're going to make those kind of recommendations," he said.

However, he said that it would make little difference to the situation at Heathrow.

"Heathrow does not compete with Gatwick and with Stansted or with Luton or Manchester," he said.

"It competes with Charles de Gaulle (Paris), it competes with Dubai now and with Schiphol (Amsterdam), because these are big international hub airports so the ownership of these airports actually has nothing to do with competition. I think there is a mood in the country that just wants the business broken up. But I think the competition issue actually doesn't wash."