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Competition Commission rules the Spanish-owned company must sell Stansted and one of its Scottish airports BAA has suffered a setback in its attempt to maintain its dominant hold on the UK air travel sector, after the Competition Commission ruled that it must still sell two of its airports. The Competition Commission announced on Wednesday that BAA must find a buyer for Stansted, and for either Edinburgh or Glasgow airport. It said passengers and airlines would benefit from the move. The decision comes two years after the commission first ruled that the UK air travel industry would benefit from BAA’s break-up – a decision the company hoped to overturn. In a statement, the commisison said it had “provisionally concluded that the sale of the airports is fully justified and that passengers and airlines would still benefit from greater competition with the airports under separate ownership”. BAA, which has already sold Gatwick for £1.5bn, had argued that further sales were not needed as the government had blocked expansion at Heathrow. The group, owned by Spanish conglomerage Ferrovial, said it was considering its next move. Selling two more airports would help the company to cut its debt pile. “We believe that there has been a material change in circumstances since the commission’s report was published in March 2009,” BAA said. In October 2010, the court of appeal ruled in favour of the commission’s findings following an appeal by BAA. The commission said BAA must sell Stansted first, as passengers would benefit most from its new ownership. “There now appears to be greater capacity available which will increase the potential for competition between the London airports. The introduction of new ownership at Gatwick, whilst too recent for us to base any conclusions on, has also given a foretaste of the benefits competition can bring,” said Peter Freeman, chairman of the commission. BAA Travel & leisure Transport Transport policy Air transport Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk