The Supreme Court in the UK has refused to hear BAA’s appeal against the Competition Commission’s March 2009 order to force BAA to sell Stansted Airport, plus one of either Edinburgh or Glasgow airports.

A BAA spokesperson said: “We are disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear our appeal. We continue to make the case to the Competition Commission that the circumstances in which they found reason to force the sale of airports have changed significantly since early 2009 and should certainly be reviewed in the light of the Government’s policy to rule out new runway capacity in the South East of England.”

BAA was initially encouraged when the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) upheld BAA’s appeal against the CC’s decision in December 2009. However, the CC successfully appealed to the Court of Appeal (CoA) which overturned the CAT’s decision in October 2010 – upholding two of the five grounds argued by the CC. 

BAA then sought permission from the Supreme Court to appeal the CoA’s decision in November 2010, but BAA was told yesterday that this permission has not been granted.