The immediate future of UK airport ownership has been thrown into disarray after BAA won a partial victory against the Competition Commission's (CC) ruling forcing it to sell three airports.
The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) concluded "with the greatest reluctance" that a claim by BAA of "apparent bias" in the CC decision was successful.
However, BAA's appeal on the grounds that the CC had not allowed sufficient time for the sales failed.
BAA had challenged the legality of the CC decision to make it sell Gatwick and Stansted airports as well as one of either Glasgow or Edinburgh.
Following Monday's decisions, the CAT has invited the CC and BAA to make further submissions relating to the bias claim with a view to holding a further hearing in the new year.
This means that there will be further delay in sorting out airport ownership following the CC's original ruling that BAA's ownership of seven UK airports was uncompetitive.
BAA had put forward a case of "apparent bias" saying that Professor Peter Mozier, one of the CC airports inquiry panel, had "a powerful connection" to Manchester Airport Group, which had been interested in buying Gatwick.
When the appeal was heard in October the CAT was told that Professor Mozier's presence meant that the inquiry was "riven through with an acute and intolerable conflict of interest".
Giving the CAT's ruling, the appeal tribunal's president, Mr Justice Barling, said the apparent bias appeal had succeeded and that it was the unanimous decision of the three-strong panel. He said: "We have reached our conclusions on Ground 1 (the apparent bias) with the greatest reluctance."
The CAT said that BAA had emphasised from the outset of proceedings that its contention was "one of apparent bias as that concept is understood in the light of the case law, and that there is no allegation that Professor Mozier was actually biased".
