BAA Says it Does not Have to Sell Gatwick Airport

The mounting pile of debt for the BAA (British Airports Authority) has now reached the £1 billion mark. This means that the UK airport operator could be in a ton of trouble. Despite this, the BAA has announced that it does not need to sell the Gatwick airport to counter its mounting losses and a regulatory ruling.

Right now the BAA has reported that it is facing about a £1 billion pile of debt. The BAA CEO, Colin Matthews, said that the talk with the two remaining Gatwick bidders is still continuing, almost a year after the airport went up for sale. Matthews did say that the BAA would not sell Gatwick unless the price was right. It would also not sell Gatwick just to fight off its growing debt.

Colin Matthews said that they can guarantee that they will receive an acceptable price for the airport, and they will not sell it if they do not. He went on to tell reporters that the BAA still has a choice despite the need to pay back the debt next year.

The airport operator also hopes that it can overturn the ruling that was made by the UK’s Competition Commission, ordering them to sell three of its seven UK airports. One of those airports was indeed Gatwick.

The BAA has said that the Competition Commission was affected by apparent bias, and it also failed to take into account the adverse financial impact of introducing competition. The BAA has denied to report that the Gatwick bidder, Manchester Airports Group, is out of the running, because it refused to raise its offer to £1.4 billion.