According to today's FT:
FT.com / Home UK / UK - BAA faces forced sale of 2 London airports
This will come as a fair old shock to Ferrovial, since most reports suggested only one airport may need to be sold.
The thing is, most people seem to predict the one airport to be sold would be LGW (and if a second had to be sold, it would be STN), but although neither of these are Changi, neither gets anything like the bad press or complaints that LHR gets. Would it not make more sense to get the BAA to sell LHR instead?
That said and whatever about STN, a new operator could do wonders for LGW and its attractiveness as a long haul airport. It must surely be a reflection on the BAA's management of LGW over the years that despite being one of the first airports to have a rail link, it has never really capitalised on this facility; furthermore, although it pretty well smack in the middle of the stockbroker belt, business travellers still prefer LHR. LGW should be a far more popular airport with business travellers than Heathrow and a new operator, with a fresh page, could go a long way to achieving this.