British Airways supports better regulation of airports

British Airways is urging the Competition Commission and UK authorities in general to devise a system that allows for more thorough regulation of airports and airport operators. The British flag carrier’s message comes on the heels of the Competition Commission’s recommendation that BAA-the owner and operator of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports-give two of these up due to falling performance and declining customer satisfaction. Unlike Ryanair, however, British Airways is not explicitly calling on the government to force BAA to sell some of its assets, but instead believes that the goal should be to implement better regulation rather than make changes to the ownership of these hubs.

One of the approaches previously proposed and now supported by British Airways is to launch a special license system which would make airport operators much more accountable when things go wrong at their hubs. This would effectively mean that if BAA is unable to maintain a basic level of customer satisfaction-both on the part of passengers and airlines-government authorities could impose a series of sanctions and other punitive measures against the operator. The pillar of this new licensing regime would be the ability of public authorities to regularly measure how an operator is performing.

British Airways operates its primary hub from Heathrow Airport’s recently opened Terminal 5, which is owned and operated by BAA. The Spanish-owned operator will keep its Heathrow holding, but will likely have to sell Gatwick and Stansted, as well as either the Glasgow or Edinburgh airport.

Thank you to John Bowker of Reuters News for the initial report.

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