BAA Puts Edinburgh Airport Up For Sale

BAA has confirmed that it has chosen to keep control of Glasgow Airport and will commence preparations to sell Edinburgh Airport in order to comply with the UK Competition Commission’s ruling that it has to divest its interest in one of the two largest air gateways to Scotland. It expects to formally approach the market in the New Year with a view to agreeing a sale by next summer.

Colin Matthews, Chief Executive Officer, BAA said choosing which of the two airports to sell has been a “difficult decision”. Over the past few years Edinburgh Airport has proved to be a resilient asset throughout the economic downturn with better traffic figures over recent years than at Glasgow Airport, but Matthews noted this would make it an “attractive asset” to prospective buyers.

The table above highlights the mixed performance of the two airports during the past decade. At the turn of the Millennium, Glasgow Airport was the larger of the two airports handling almost 7 million passengers, and although this grew to a high of 8.8 million in 2006 the fall in traffic since then has been considerable.

In each of the four subsequent years Edinburgh Airport has carried more passengers, surpassing nine million in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Across the decade Edinburgh Airport has seen passenger numbers increase by 67.93 per cent, while Glasgow Airport has seen a 3.89 per cent decline in the same period.

However, it is not all about the numbers, as BAA’s decision shows. Although Edinburgh Airport has seen tremendous growth since 2000 its network is still highly focused on destinations in Europe. In fact its only long-haul scheduled flight is Continental Airlines twice daily link to Newark. Meanwhile, Glasgow Airport also has daily links to Newark by Continental Airlines; flights to Toronto by Air Transat; seasonal links to Orlando by Monarch Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways and Philadelphia by US Airways and a daily Emirates Airline link to Dubai alongside its European and North African flights.

“Edinburgh is a great airport with a great team and a great future and we will be very sorry to see it leave BAA. We remain committed to Scotland and we will continue our long-term investment to improve passenger and airline experience at Aberdeen and Glasgow, as well as at Edinburgh until the sale is complete,” said Colin Matthews. “Glasgow Airport has great opportunities for future growth and development and we think BAA is well-placed to build on its recent success.”