easyJet response to CAA price control proposals for BAA

Today, the UK Civil Aviation Authority has gone to great lengths to try to justify significant price increases at London Gatwick (LGW) and London Heathrow (LHR) airports, yet it is simultaneously recommending the complete removal of all price controls at London Stansted (STN).

BAA controls over 90% airport capacity in the London market, so allowing a monopoly supplier the freedom to set its own prices is an unusual recommendation for a price regulator.

Today's announcement once again reinforces the need for a root and branch restructure of how the UK's monopoly airports are regulated. This is why easyJet wholeheartedly supports the Competition Commission's investigation into BAA, and would again urge the Department for Transport to reject the CAA's muddled thinking on Stansted.