Airport operator BAA today announced plans to sell Gatwick Airport
17 September 2008
Colin Matthews, BAA's chief executive, said:
"We have decided to begin the process of selling Gatwick Airport immediately. Gatwick is one of Europe's premier airports, the busiest single-runway airport in the world, and it was used by 35 million passengers last 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.
"When the Competition Commission published its provisional findings, we said that we would be realistic in our response, though we disagree with the Commission's report and the analysis on which it is founded.
"We will continue to present our case, in respect of the South East airports and those in Scotland. At Stansted, 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.
"The Commission itself states that a shortage of runway capacity in the South East is a main cause of poor service standards, but we believe its proposed remedies will delay delivery of that capacity.
"BAA will continue to change in many respects. We have a new management team. Our priority is to improve the quality of service we offer passengers and airlines.
"Success depends not only on our day to day management of our airports, but also on policy-makers taking the right decisions on runway capacity and future regulation.
"Our response to the Competition Commission's report, and our announcement concerning Gatwick, is intended to focus our efforts accordingly."
BAA will appoint financial advisers soon.
Gatwick is the busiest single-runway airport in the world and the second largest airport in the UK.
Its development strategy for the future focuses on the airport's expansion as a single-runway, two-terminal airport, as it grows to handle around 40 million passengers a year by 2010/2011.
Operating hours: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
Opened: 1958
Runways: One, 3,316m long by 45m wide
Terminals: Two
Airlines: Around 80
Destinations: More than 220
Air transport movements per year: 262,000
Passengers per year: 35 million
Rail link: Gatwick Express, 30 minutes to London; www.gatwickexpress.com
Employs: More than 25,000 (of which around 2,400 are BAA Gatwick employees)
Air cargo per year: over 134,000 tonnes.
www.baa.com
BAA Press Release
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