The Competition Commission has decided that BAA should sell Gatwick, Stansted and Edinburgh airports in its provisional proposals.

The government run watchdog has said the move was necessary to improve levels of service at UK airports.

But BAA hit back saying it did not believe there was enough evidence to support the decision to force a sale of Stansted or Edinburgh. BAA had already put LGW up for sale.

BAA chief executive Colin Matthews said: “As we said when the Competition Commission published its provisional findings in August, we do not believe that it has set out compelling evidence to support its view that selling Stansted as well as Gatwick will increase competition and we remain concerned that its proposed remedies may actually delay the introduction of new runway capacity.

“In Scotland, the Commission has not provided any substantial evidence to support its view that Edinburgh and Glasgow would compete under separate ownership, and we believe there is no justification for specifying which of these airports should be sold.

“We will continue to make our case to the Competition Commission.”

The Competition Commission is also planning to impose measures to make sure service and investment at Heathrow meets the needs of both airlines and passengers.

“Under separate ownership, the airport operators including BAA, will have a much greater incentive to be far more responsive to their customers, both airlines and passengers,” it said.

It is thought that Virgin Atlantic is preparing a bid for Gatwick as part of a consortium, and other potential bidders include Australia-based Macquarie, Germany’s Fraport, and the owners of Manchester airport.

The Competition Commission’s proposals will now go out to consultation before it publishes its final report in late February or early March.

BAA, which runs seven airports in the UK, was bought by Spanish firm Ferrovial for more than €13 billion in 2006. In October BAA had to refund airlines due to poor service levels at LGW and LHR

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