BAA has announced it is to sell London’s Gatwick Airport.

In a “landmark moment”, BAA has announced that it is to sell the UK’s second-largest airport, Gatwick, following a recent report by the Competition Commission (CC).

The report by the independent public body was published in August and provisionally found competition problems at all seven of BAA’s airports. One of its proposals was that BAA should sell two of its three London airports, along with either its Glasgow or Edinburgh airport.

Colin Matthews, BAA’s Chief Executive, said: “When the CC published its provisional findings, we said that we would be realistic in our response, though we disagree with the Commission’s report and the analysis on which it is founded.

“Success depends not only on our day-to-day management of our airports, but also on policy-makers taking the right decisions on runway capacity and future regulation, Our response to the CC’s report, and our announcement concerning Gatwick, is intended to focus our efforts accordingly.”

Andy Flower, Gatwick’s Managing Director, stated that the airport was experiencing ‘business as usual’: “Today’s announcement by BAA represents a landmark moment in the long and proud history of Britain’s second largest airport. I know this was a difficult decision for BAA to make, but it is the right one for staff, passengers and customers. We can now begin to address the uncertainty which has been fuelled by nearly two years of speculation about our future.”

Virgin has already announced that it is interested in owning a share of Gatwick, while other companies are also expected to reveal their intentions shortly.

BAA is in the process of appointing financial advisers, while the CC is finalising its provisional findings which are due to be published in early 2009 – and which will take into account any action that BAA makes before then.

For more information about the CC’s findings, click here.