Competition

The CAA has asked us to consider the CC’s draft paper on the Assessment of Competition at Stansted Airport, which differs from the CAA’s own initial thinking to an extent that appears to lie well beyond a normal level of disagreement that might occur when two, independent authorities address a complex factual situation.

2. In what follows we seek to identify and understand the sources of these major differences, with a view to facilitating development of the most appropriate approach to regulation in the specific factual context of Stansted airport.

We have been asked by the Civil Aviation Authority to comment on the Competition Commission (CC)`s paper on Assessment of Competition at Stansted Airport (ACP) and on a paper by Dr David Starkie and Professor George Yarrow in response to the CC`s paper. Our comments are on the general approach taken by the CC and by Starkie and Yarrow.