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BAA Airports Report restored

13/10/10

By a judgment dated 13 October 2010, the Court of Appeal (Maurice Kay, Jacobs and Patten LJJ) has allowed the appeal of the Competition Commission, supported by Ryanair Ltd as intervener, against the judgment of the Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT") quashing the report of the Competition Commission into UK airports. As a result, the Competition Commission's report, which required BAA to sell Gatwick, Stansted and either Edinburgh or Glasgow airports, is restored.

The Court of Appeal found that the CAT was wrong to find that there was any appearance of bias arising from the membership and influence of Professor Peter Moizer within the Competition Commission Panel from October 2007 until 2 December 2008. In relation to the period from 2 December 2008 to March 2009, the Court of Appeal found that, regardless of the position in respect of Professor Moizer, the other five members of the Panel and the eventual decision were not contaminated by apparent bias. The Court of Appeal rejected the Appellants' other grounds of appeal relating to waiver and no-operative effect.

The judgment is here.

Jonathan Sumption QC led for the Competition Commission; Mark Hoskins QC was amongst those appearing for BAA; Daniel Jowell and Sarah Love appeared for Ryanair Ltd.