BAA has been refused permission by the Supreme Court to appeal against a Competition Commission (CC) ruling requiring for the sale of two airports.

In March 2009, the commission ordered the airport operator to offload Gatwick, Stansted and either Glasgow or Edinburgh airports in the interest of fair competition. BAA has already sold Gatwick Airport, but had successfully challenged the CC's decision at the Competiton Appeal Tribunal in December 2009.

The commission fought back last October, however, after the Court of Appeal overturned the tribunal's verdict. BAA sought permission to appeal against the Court of Appeal decision in November, a move which has since been rejected by the Supreme Court.

A BAA spokesperson said: "We continue to make the case to the Competition Commission that the circumstances in which they found reason to force the sale of airports have changed significantly since early 2009 and should certainly be reviewed in the light of the government's policy to rule out new runway capacity in the south east of England." CC chair Peter Freeman added: "The Supreme Court's decision means we can press ahead with this process and hopefully bring it to a swift conclusion in the interests of the travelling public."

Image: Stansted Airport – EWR