A major step in the right direction

That is the response from easyJet, following the Competition Commission’s (CC) emerging thinking into the structure, behaviour and regulation of BAA, which easyJet has hailed as a hugely important piece of work which rightly recognises that the current system of airport regulation is fundamentally flawed and that the interests of the travelling public should come first.

Andy Harrison, easyJet Chief Executive said:

“We welcome the Competition Commission’s initial report as a major step in the right direction. It raises the right questions and the UK’s air passengers deserve answers which put their interests first.

“Breaking up BAA alone is not enough or even the first step. We need a fundamental overhaul of UK airport regulation which will introduce more competition and tougher regulation. Transferring ownership of our major airports from one highly indebted monopolist to another will benefit no one apart from the City deal-makers”

“It has been crystal clear for a long time that the combination of poor airport regulation and BAA’s ownership of adjacent airport monopolies acts against the interests of airport customers and passengers. But changes cannot come soon enough.

“In particular, the UK needs to introduce as much competition into the system as possible by separating the ownership of airport terminals from runways; allowing differential pricing within airports so that efficient airlines do not cross-subsidise the high-cost airlines; breaking BAA’s monopoly on airport investment; and developing a much more effective, customer-orientated regulatory framework to encourage higher levels of operational and capital efficiency from the airport operator. Only once these issues have been successfully resolved should we consider breaking-up BAA.”

“The combination of awful service, massive price increases and antiquated infrastructure makes it obvious to millions of passengers that the UK’s major airports are a shameful mess. This is due to a combination of poor airport regulation, an airport operator that is unresponsive to the needs of its major customers, poor long-term planning of infrastructure requirements, and BAA’s monopoly control of London and Scottish airports.”