EasyJet and Virgin may form a consortium to back a bid for Gatwick airport, according to media reports.

Airlines EasyJet and Virgin Atlantic are to jointly back a £2.5 billion bid for Gatwick airport, according to reports in The Times newspaper and BBC News.

The airlines would not “contribute financially to the bid, but they would guarantee long-term revenue” by basing a considerable number of their aircraft at the airport, The Times stated.

The UK’s second-largest airport was put up for sale by BAA in September following a report by the Competitions Commission that found competition problems with all seven of BAA’s airports.

Paul Charles, a Virgin Atlantic spokesman, told BBC News: “We have said before we are interested in forming a consortium…It doesn’t mean we will put forward all the money or some of the money, or necessarily EasyJet. What it does mean, [is] there would be a group of interested parties who we are talking to who would come together, [and] input their own expertise into owning and operating Gatwick Airport.”

The auction for the airport is expected to begin before Christmas, with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HSBC handling the sale.

Click here to read ICM’s report at the time of the announcement of the Gatwick airport sale in September.