BAA has finally agreed to sell Stansted after a three-year battle against the UK’s competition authorities.
The Competition Commission originally told BAA it must sell Stansted in 2009 but the company has launched a succession of unsuccessful appeals to reverse this decision.
The last appeal was thrown out by the UK’s Court of Appeal in Julyalthough BAA said it was considering a further appeal to the Supreme Court.
But BAA said today it would not launch any more appeals on Stansted and would put the airport on the market.
"Having carefully considered the Court of Appeal's recent ruling, BAA has decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court and is now proceeding with the sale of Stansted airport," said BAA in a statement.
“We still believe that the Competition Commission ruling fails to recognise that Stansted and Heathrow serve different markets.”
BAA, which also owns Heathrow, Southampton, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports, has been boosted by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund taking a 20 per cent shareholding in its holding company.
For more information visit baa.com.
Report by Rob Gill
