Legal expert says battle for Stansted may be over
A legal expert says it will be difficult for airports operator BAA to continue its fight to hold on to Stansted after the Court of Appeal ordered the sale to go ahead.
BAA announced immediately after yesterday’s ruling that it would take its battle to the Supreme Court, which is the highest court of appeal for civil cases in the UK.
However, Bruce Kilpatrick, head of the City competition law team at Addleshaw Goddard, said it wouldn’t be easy for BAA to secure leave to appeal any further.
Three Court of Appeal judges yesterday upheld a 2009 ruling by the Competition Commission that BAA must sell Stansted, Gatwick and either Glasgow or Edinburgh airports.
BAA has already sold Gatwick and Edinburgh, but it has waged a three-year battle to be allowed to keep Stansted, arguing that the airport serves a completely different market to Heathrow, which it also owns.
Kilpatrick said Thursday’s ruling that BAA must sell the Essex airport was no surprise.
"It was always going to be difficult for BAA to overturn the judgement on appeal," he said. "BAA will obviously be disappointed and it will be difficult for them to secure leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.
BAA may be getting close to the end of the line in this case, however, they will want to explore all avenues in order to delay the timetable of the sale."
BAA has 28 days to appeal.
Ryanair, one of Stansted’s largest customers, welcomed the appeal court ruling and repeated its call for the early sale of the airport, where traffic is continuing to decline this year.
Spokesman Stephen McNamara said: "These repeated BAA court appeals are nothing more than a blatant attempt to delay the sale while BAA and its Spanish owners, Ferrovial, fatten up its monopoly profits at the expense of airlines, passengers and British jobs. This scamming by the BAA and Ferrovial must now end before even more traffic is lost at Stansted."
Ryanair claimed that since 2008, Stansted has doubled its charges yet traffic has fallen from 24m in 2007 to 18m last year.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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