UK airports

30 March 2007

The OFT has referred the supply of airport services by BAA in the UK to the Competition Commission (CC) for further investigation. This decision comes after public consultation during which over 60 responses were received from parties including airlines, consumers and other organisations. Having considered the points made by respondents to the consultation, the majority of whom supported referral, the OFT is of the view that the competition concerns it identified prior to the consultation exercise remain valid and that an investigation by the CC is now warranted. 

Download BAA - The OFT's reference to the CC (pdf 924 kb)
Download the executive summary (pdf 93 kb)
See press release

We found potential adverse effects relating to a combination of features: joint ownership (with very high regional market shares), regulation, development restrictions and capacity constraints. We have concluded that we have reasonable grounds to suspect that the above features prevent, restrict or distort competition with adverse consequences for customers and consumers using these UK airports. We recognise that our preliminary analysis has not reached firm conclusions on these matters, but consider the analysis appropriate for the first phase and look forward to the outcome of the CC's investigation of these significant issues.

We consider that there is a reasonable prospect that appropriate remedies would be available if the CC were to find an adverse effect on competition. These may take the form of requiring BAA to divest some of its airports, or recommendations regarding the regulatory system, or both.

Background

12 December 2006

The OFT consultated on its proposal to refer the supply of airport services by BAA within the UK to the Competition Commission for a market investigation.

Download UK airports - consultation on proposed reference (pdf 2.87 Mb)
See press release 

30 June 2006

The OFT published a short document outlining why UK airports meet the criteria for launching a study, and the focus and timescales of the study.

Download UK airports - reasons for the market study (pdf 108 kb)
See press release

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