The Hindu Business Line : BAA may lose its monopoly

If Britain’s Competition Commission has its way, then BAA is destined to lose its ‘monopoly’ on UK airports. The Competition Commission believes that BAA’s ownership of seven UK airports — Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Southampton in England, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen in Scotland — is the cause of inefficiencies and recommends that BAA sell two of its three airports in London and one in Scotland. Obviously, the recommendation has not gone well with everybody. Unite, the union, has voiced its concern saying that any break-up of BAA could result in job losses and attack on existing terms and conditions of employment and has therefore sounded warning that it will not sit back “while the market plays games with our jobs.” Unite represents more than 75,000 civil aviation workers throughout all of the UK airports, more than 6,000 of whom are employed directly by BAA. The CEO of BAA has been quoted as saying that calling for a fundamental restructure of the organisation and review of the government’s Air Transport White Paper could result in worse, not better, customer service. The CC report, it is pointed out, comes at a time when the Government is about to make decision on the first full-length runways in the South East for the first time since Second World War.

OUR BUREAU

More Stories on : Airlines

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
BAA may lose its monopoly

‘Keep old airports at Bangalore, Hyderabad functional’

‘Allied depts could help Cochin Port more’

DP World eyeing Indian projects

‘Vizag port trust, dock labour board merger likely soon’

AI mulls sabbatical scheme for non-operational staff

Loading billets in boxes banned

Dedicated Freight Corridor: Carrying benefits to the hinterland

Aviation fuel to cost less, but airlines against fare reduction