The British Airports Authority was established in 1966 to manage the government-owned airports at Heathrow, Gatwick, and Stansted. Since then the company has experienced privatization, name changes, acquisitions and growth, and some criticism – but the success of the business cannot be ignored. Here is a short history of the company now known as BAA.

By the 1970s the British Airports Authority had acquired Southampton Airport, Aberdeen Airport, Edinburgh Airport and Glasgow International Airport, alongside the big three in and around London. Southampton has since become one of the country’s leading regional airports, handling almost 2 million passengers a year.

In 1986, Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government passed the airports act serving to privatize the authority as a means to raise funds on the stock market. In the process the company became BAA plc. – confusingly, a name in its own right and no longer standing for British Airports Authority. In 2006 the company was taken over by Grupo Ferrovial, a multinational Spanish consortium specializing in transport and construction, and was consequently renamed once more to BAA Ltd. (though it is often known as BAA Airports Ltd.).

Since being taken over by an international company, it is perhaps no surprise that BAA has expanded globally itself. The subsidiary, BAA USA Inc., was established and is now in charge of retail operations at Logan International Airport in Boston and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. In 1994, BAA also won a contract to manage Indianapolis International Airport until 2004. The contract was then extended and cancelled in 2007.

Despite BAA’s growth and success, the company has been subject to criticism, even leading to the recent enforcement by the UK Competition Commission to sell some of its airports. Amidst arguments that BAA is in a monopoly position, over the next two years the company will have to sell Gatwick and Stansted and one of either Edinburgh or Glasgow. Recent plans to add a third runway at Heathrow have been met with opposition by MPs and the public alike due to, amongst other things, the increase in air and noise pollution.

In 2007 BAA helped establish Flying Matters, a coalition of airlines, operators, food producers, manufacturers and tourist organisations that aim ‘to contribute to a balanced and informed debate on aviation’s contribution to climate change.’ With a focus on the economic value of airport growth and expansion, ranging from issues of more planes to airport parking, Flying Matters has recently opposed green “spin” and argued the importance of aviation to farmers in the developing world.

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