The continued privatisation of Britain”s airports continues apace with Leeds Bradford International Airport (LBA) now on the market. Accountants Ernst & Young have been asked to handle the sale by the five local authority owners and have issued an information flyer seeking bids in excess of ”100m ($190m). They hope to capitalise on the strong bidding interest in airport assets following the sale of London City Airport and Exeter, rumoured to have attracted ”750m and ”60m”far better figures than expected.
As with most UK airports LBA is booming with 2.6m passengers last year. The largest operator is Jet2.com, owned by Dart Group Plc, who next year will serve 21 destinations. The recently published master plan predicts 5m passengers by 2015. Some traffic is being lost to the new Doncaster Airport and also to Manchester with its Pennine Motorway connection to Yorkshire.
But the airport remains confident of growth. Would-be purchasers could include Blackpool Airport owner Paul Whelan, the London City ” Balfour Beatty grouping, plus those unsuccessful with Exeter. The possibility of certain BAA airports being off-loaded will also have an effect on the airport purchase marketplace.#