I think the point is that airlines pay to use airports. Increased competition at airport level will hopefully lead to better prices and services for airlines, which ultimately benefits consumers. Most consumers won’t care, true, but it still affects them.

Yep. Caitlin’s right. A company with no competitors has no incentive to be competitive.

If consumers care about the airport experience - and they do, a great deal - they should follow this story with interest.

I’m not suggesting that airlines will automatically pass savings on to consumers but ultimately it gives them more flexibility to be competitive. And obviously higher costs do get passed on to consumers.

Also, competition among airports does affect the amount of airport tax you pay and that is money that comes directly out of your pocket.

I agree that the average consumer won’t care but I disagree that it doesn’t affect them.

NB: The commission has found that BAA has to sell TWO of its South east airports, not ONE.

Radio 4 said yesterday it would probably be Stansted and Gatwick or it could be Heathrow and one of the others. Then they would have to sell either Edinburgh or Glasgow as well, while behavioural remedies would be imposed in Aberdeen.

Darren

While you may think passengers do not care about the experience, but give them a choice of an airport with 1 hour or more security queue and one with 10 minutes and they will choose the shorter. Or an airport with a 1 hour check-in instead of 3.

That is the kind of improvements you may get from competition. And if you could save 2 hours at the airport I am sure you would. With the London airports this close together it will make a difference.

If you’re giving Leeds & Bradford as an example it’s presumably because a new airport owner did cause the airport experience to change, and so as a consumer you did care.

The same is likely to happen with the potential BAA break-up. Change will occur, the consumer will notice it and pass judgment. To say that they’re judging the service level, not the service provider is spurious - service level and service provider are indivisible.

It’s valid to ask whether the changes will be for the better or for the worse, though.

I really think you are missing the point. It’s got nothing to do with how consumers make their decisions, but it’s got everything to do with how airlines make their decisions. The customers of airports are airlines, not consumers.

The contention is that BAA has a near monopoly position and is abusing it. The proposals are to introduce behavioural remedies in areas where there are few airports and competition in areas where there are several airports.

Consumers will continue to make their decisions on price and location but they may end up making different decisions. Greater competition among airports can ultimately affect the airfares and taxes that consumers pay (the price part of the equation), and also which airports different airlines choose to fly out of (the location part of your equation).

On a side issue, I frequently use Luton and I find the security and check-in there to be far speedier than either Heathrow or Gatwick. I don’t know if that’s because Luton is not owned by BAA or if it’s just because it’s a smaller airport.

If you care about the customers of airlines - ie consumers - then you should care about the suppliers of airlines.

Customers don’t care who owns the airport but they do care about their experience at the airport both with security lines and the shopping facilities, provision of wifi etc. And they do care about price, which is affected both through the tax they pay directly and the fees they pay indirectly through the airline.

It’s like saying that you don’t care which catering company provides the meals to an airline because it won’t make a difference to the food the consumer ends up eating. Of course it will. The consumer is not going to make a decision of who to fly with on the basis of the catering company but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect them. They do care what the food tastes like, especially on long haul.

Likewise, a consumer is not going to question which contractor does the maintenance on an aircraft but they do care about safety.

Regarding an airline owning an airport, I’m sure that Tui (Thomson) own both Coventry and Doncaster Sheffield airports.

Are you sure Thomson own Coventry and Doncaster? As for the BAA story it is just chip shop newspaper now. As usual the media kicking up a big fuss about nothing. Nothing will be done for years, if ever.

@Rohan. Not sure that’s true. My City friends tell me that BAA are already putting their London airports on the market, even though there’s no definitive regulatory ruling yet.

@Rohan. Tui bought the lease for Cov. Airport in 2004.