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Travellers could soon notice big changes at some of the major BAA-operated airports – including the London bases of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted – following an investigation by the Competition Commission (CC).

The CC said that it 'may require BAA to sell three airports' after it found that the organisation's ownership of seven UK gateways has created competition problems that have had 'adverse consequences' for passengers and airlines.

Problems have also been caused by certain aspects of government policy and the regulation system, according to the CC.

The Commission's proposed remedies for the problems at BAA's busiest bases include the sale of two of its three London airports and also of either Glasgow or Edinburgh Airport.

Christopher Clarke, chairman of the BAA airports inquiry group, said: 'While we accept that constraints on runway capacity in the south-east will limit the scope for the benefits of competition in the short-term, we believe that separate owners would be more active than BAA in exploiting existing opportunities.

'Over time, we would expect these to increase significantly. In Scotland, where there are no similar capacity constraints, we believe separate owners of Edinburgh and Glasgow would similarly improve their offerings.'

BAA stressed that this is not the end of the CC process and said it would continue to identify areas where it believes the Commission's analysis is flawed and its proposed remedies 'disproportionate and counter-productive'.

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