ABTA welcomes BAA decision to sell Gatwick
[September 17th 2008]
The Association of British Travel Agents has welcomed airport operator BAA’s decision to sell Gatwick airport.
ABTA, which has over 1,500 members including travel agents, tour operators and support services, says it recommended to the Competition Commission that Gatwick be sold so a new owner could concentrate resources on the UK’s second largest airport. Gatwick is the main UK gateway for charter flights provided by UK tour operators.
“We welcome this announcement by BAA, but any new owner for Gatwick must be subject to proper ongoing regulation to ensure that they provide the level of investment and performance that a modern international airport requires. Lack of capacity at Gatwick is bad for customers, bad for the industry and bad for the environment,” says ABTA chief executive, Mark Tanzer.
There are likely to be no shortage of bidders for Gatwick, but what any new owner’s intentions for the airport are remain to be seen. The largest UK owned airport operator, Manchester Airports Group (MAG), is one of the companies interested in buying Gatwick. MAG already owns four airports – Manchester, East Midlands, Bournemouth and Humberside – so it would be interesting to see whether it has the resources and management to run Gatwick successfully.
Other organisations believed to be interested in Gatwick include Australian airport operator Macquarie, a consortium including airline Virgin Atlantic, Global Infrastructure Partners, and German company Hochtief.
Meanwhile, low cost airline Ryanair is calling for BAA to sell Stansted and either Glasgow or Edinburgh airport as well. “Airlines and passengers have been abused for many years with high prices and abysmal service at all of the BAA’s London and Scottish airports and the “trick” of selling off Gatwick won’t end this abusive monopoly,” says outspoken Ryanair boss, Michael O’Leary.
“Ryanair calls on the Competition Commission and the UK Government to take early steps to force the early sale of Stansted and at least one of the Scottish airports, so that real competition can be introduced in time for Summer 2009,” O’Leary adds.
“The sale of Stansted will lead to the earlier development of a second runway and terminal because these will be designed to meet the needs of users,” he continues.
Written by: Nick Purdom
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