BAA could soon kiss goodbye to monopoly

The UK Competition Commission will this week issue the initial findings of its investigation into BAA's ownership of seven UK airports, according to The Times and The Financial Times.

The findings could eventually lead to a break-up of BAA's ownership of three of London's major airports: Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

The FT quotes sources as saying the Competition Commission will not conclude that "everything is fine", which may be a slight understatement if the views expressed by easyJet, Ryanair, Virgin Atlantic and bmi during a recent hastily-called press conference to protest airport charge increases are anything to go by.