Court defeat over airport sell-off

In March last year, the Competition Commission (CC) ruled that the airport operator must sell Gatwick and Stansted as well as one of either Glasgow or Edinburgh.

But BAA successfully appealed against this, with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) finding last December that there was "apparent bias" in the CC's ruling over Gatwick.

In turn, the CC went to the Court of Appeal in June to challenge the CAT decision.

Yesterday, Lord Justice Maurice Kay, Lord Justice Jacob and Lord Justice Patten said the CAT was wrong to find "apparent bias" and restored the commission's decision.

They refused Spanish-owned BAA's application to appeal to the Supreme Court, although the authority can renew its application direct.

BAA had already decided to sell Gatwick even before the March 2009 CC sell-off ruling which had followed a lengthy inquiry into UK airport ownership.

However, BAA was concerned that Prof Peter Moizer, one of the CC airports' inquiry panel, had a connection to the Manchester Airport Group which had been interested in buying Gatwick.

In its ruling last December, the CAT agreed with BAA's claim that Prof Moizer's role meant there had been "apparent bias" in the sell-off decision.

Gatwick was sold last year for 1.5bn to US-based investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners.

In his judgment, Lord Justice Maurice Kay said Prof Moizer's relationship was with the Greater Manchester Pension Fund – where he was one of three external advisers – and not with Manchester Airport Group (MAG) or the local authorities.

A BAA spokesman said the operator was "disappointed" and would be seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

A CC spokesman said: "We are pleased that the Court of Appeal has found in our favour."