Condor's owner said to be keen on Gatwick

THE company which owns Condor is rumoured to be interested in buying Gatwick Airport after it was announced this morning that the British Airports Authority is to sell it.

MacQuarie is one of three companies said to be keen to buy the airport, a little more than a month after it completed a takeover of Condor Group.

Fraport and Richard Branson's Virgin are the others reportedly interested. BAA will put Gatwick, which is valued at £1.8bn. by regulators, on the market after the Competition Commission recommended the sale of three of its seven UK airports.

The commission released its preliminary findings into the operator's control of the UK's largest airports last month and added that BAA should be forced to sell two of its three airports in the south-east – Heathrow and Stansted are the others.