Travel News

Airlines gang up on BAA

A number of UK airlines have welcomed a recent report from the Competition Commission (CC) regarding airport operator BAA and have called for the organisation's network of airports to be broken up.

While it did not give its own approval to BAA's seven UK airports being made available to new operators, the CC did say that the current setup "may not be serving well the interests of either airlines or passengers".

Bmi said that BAA's control over the UK's busiest hubs must be weakened if the airport industry is to be made competitive.

Chief executive Nigel Turner said: "Only with separate airport ownership can the UK guarantee a healthy and competitive aviation industry to serve the wider consumer interest."

Ryanair said simply: "Monopolies don't work. Competition does."

The airline also claimed that more competition between airports would lead to additional capacity, better facilities, improved passenger service and lower costs for travellers.

Giving its side of the argument, BAA claimed that most of its airports have distinct customer groups and therefore would not compete with each other even if they were under separate ownership.

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