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London - London's Gatwick was put up for sale on Wednesday following pressure from government regulators who believe the owner controls too many airports.
BAA, which also owns Heathrow and Stansted airports, said it
decided to sell following the Competition Commission's provisional report on August 20, which recommended that the company dispose of two of its three London airports.
BAA has previously said it would not sell Heathrow, and it added on Wednesday that it was determined to hold on to Stansted, north of London.
BAA also operates airports at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen in
Scotland, and Southampton in England. The Competition Commission
recommended that it sell either Edinburgh or Glasgow.
Gatwick, the second-busiest airport in the United Kingdom, handles 35 million passengers a year.
"Gatwick has long been an important and valuable part of BAA and the decision to sell was not taken lightly. We believe that the airport's customers, staff and business will benefit from the earliest possible resolution of current uncertainty," said Colin Matthews, the company's chief executive.
At Stansted, he added, "we believe that a change of ownership would interfere with the process of securing planning approval for a second runway, which remains a key feature of Government air transport policy."
BAA was formed from the privatisation of the British Airports
Authority in 1986. The company was taken over in 2006 by a consortium led by Spain's Grupo Ferrovial.
- Sapa