BAA gives up fight to keep airport

LONDON - The Associated Press

AP Photo

BAA is to give up on its long legal fight against the U.K. competition authorities to retain ownership of Stansted airport, the fourth-busiest airport in the country.

The company announced yesterday that it had decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court against an order to sell Stansted, a base for regional air service. BAA previously sold Gatwick airport in London and Edinburgh airport after the Competition Commission ruled it had an unfair market advantage over BAA, which owns London’s Heathrow airport and three other airports, is owned by a consortium led by Ferrovial of Spain. Ferrovial last week announced that it had sold a 10.6 percent stake in BAA to Qatar Holding, increasing the fund’s stake in BAA to 20 percent.