BAA welcomes court backing for airports policy

(press release issued 18 February 2005 by BAA)

BAA today welcomed the outcome of a judicial review which backs the Government's 30 year airport development policy and confirms Stansted as the site of the South-East's next runway.

The Judgement also found that the Government has a sound basis for believing the second runway project at Stansted is commercially viable and threw out a series of challenges to the policy of seeking ways to make best use of the capacity of Heathrow.

The effect of the judgement is to re-affirm the White Paper as the long-term policy framework for UK aviation and Stansted as the site of the South-East's next runway.

Mike Clasper, Chief Executive of BAA said:

"Aviation is vital to the economic and social well-being of the UK and needs a stable, long-term policy approach to thrive. Today's judgement ensures that the Government's White Paper on Air Transport will be the bedrock of UK aviation policy for the next 30 years.

"This judgement allows BAA to press ahead with exploring ways to achieve better use of Heathrow's existing two runways, planning a new runway at Stansted, and examining the feasibility of a third runway at Heathrow.

"BAA remains committed to delivering the airport capacity the country needs. We are confident of the commercial viability of a second Stansted runway and I'm delighted that the court has thrown out that aspect of the legal challenge. We will continue to press on with the Stansted runway project, as we have since the day the White Paper was published in December 2003."

The Judgement did, however, find that the government was too prescriptive in setting the precise position of the second runway at Stansted, making it clear that government policy should not have sought to identify the precise location of the runway.

Terry Morgan, Managing Director of Stansted Airport, comments:

"We are looking at runway options with a view to identifying our proposed scheme this summer. We will share this with the local community, our airline customers and others, with the aim of submitting our planning application in spring 2006."

Ends

Media enquiries:
Duncan Bonfield, BAA plc
tel + 44 (0)20 7932 6654

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