Manchester Airports Group to bid on BAA Scottish airport

www.manchesterairport.co.uk

The Manchester Airports Group (MAG) is said to be preparing to bid on either Glasgow or Edinburgh airport when BAA puts one of the airports up for sale in compliance with a requirement of the UK Competition Commission.

Sources at MAG, which is majority-owned by the Manchester Council, noted that they were awaiting the results of the Competition Commission inquiry “with interest”. The results are expected this week, and will reveal which airports BAA will be expect to sell off in order to improve competition among UK airports.

In August of last year, The Herald reported that MAG was interested in buying Glasgow airport, several months before the Competition Commission’s provisional findings were revealed indicating that the recommendation was that BAA be forced to sell off Edinburgh airport.

At that time, the commission said that it would revisit whether BAA should be given a choice in selling off either Glasgow or Edinburgh.

It is understood that MAG is among the bidders who are interested in acquiring Gatwick airport. A source at MAG noted: “If our bid to buy Gatwick is successful, we would not be forwarding plans to buy one of the Scottish airports. But we are very much interested in buying Glasgow or Edinburgh, depending on which one is put up for sale.”

Edinburgh airport is generally considered as having the greater potential for expansion, the MAG source said that Glasgow was the preferred option.

Thanks to www.theherald.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

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