BAA bosses have this week been battling to save Stansted Airport from a forced sale - after agreeing to sell Gatwick.
The operator began giving evidence on Monday in a case being heard by a Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT).
The hearing follows a Competition Commission ruling in March that BAA must auction three of the seven UK airports it runs - London airports Gatwick and Stansted plus either Edinburgh or Glasgow.
It was announced today, Wednesday, October 21, that the operator has agreed to sell Gatwick, the UK’s second busiest airport, to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for a fee of £1.51bn but remains determined to hang on to Stansted and its Scottish airports.
In documents already lodged with the CAT, BAA has outlined its argument that the commission’s decision is flawed because of “apparent bias” arising from a link between a member of the ruling panel and one of the organisations interested in buying the airports.
As well as arguing that the commission had a conflict of interest, BAA believes it did not properly take into account the effect the recession would have on the sales of the airports.
In making its ruling, the commission decided that the lack of competition in the South East – where BAA operates its flagship, Heathrow, as well as Gatwick and Stansted – and in Scotland was bad for both passengers and airlines.
At the start of this year, BAA announced its annual profits had fallen by 18.4 per cent. It reported a profit of £582m before tax and interest in 2008, down from £713m in 2007, as the number of travellers passing through its UK airports fell by 2.7 per cent overall.
The CAT hearing was expected to end last night (Wed). A ruling on the appeal is expected in the next few months.