Heathrow Airport Holdings is a company that operates and manages Heathrow Airport based in London, England. It was formed by the privatisation of the British Airports Authority as BAA plc[2] as part of Margaret Thatcher's privatisation of government-owned assets, and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
BAA plc was bought in 2006 by a consortium led by Ferrovial, a Spanish firm specialising in the construction and operation of transport and urban infrastructure. In March 2009, the company was eventually required to sell Gatwick and Stansted airports; eventually BAA sold all its airports other than Heathrow and was renamed to its current name in 2012 to reflect its main business; businesses sold include the management of airports in the US and Africa, as well as the retailer World Duty Free. In 2024, Ferrovial sold most of its shares to the private capital Ardian and the Saudi Public Investment Fund, now among other foreign institutional investors.
The company's head office is in the Compass Centre, on the grounds of Heathrow Airport in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The company makes money from charging landing fees and departing passenger levies to airlines, and from ancillary operations within those airports such as retail, car parking and property.
History
British Airports Authority
The British Airports Authority was established by the , to take responsibility for four state-owned airports from the Ministry of Aviation – Heathrow Airport, Gatwick Airport, Prestwick Airport and Stansted Airport. In the following few years, the authority acquired Edinburgh Airport (1971), Glasgow Airport (1975) and Aberdeen Airport (1975). The authority took on the Ministry of Civil Aviation Constabulary in 1966, which was renamed to become the British Airports Authority Constabulary, and was disbanded between 1974 and 1975.
As part of Margaret Thatcher's moves to privatise government owned assets, the Airports Act 1986 was passed which mandated the creation of BAA plc as a vehicle by which stock market funds could be raised. The initial capitalisation of BAA plc was £1,225 million. In the early 1990s, the company sold Prestwick International Airport (now known as Glasgow Prestwick Airport).
International operations and takeover
BAA won a contract to manage the retail operations at Pittsburgh International Airport in 1991 through its BAA USA subsidiary.[3]
Senior leadership
Corporate affairs
As BAA, the company stated that its name did not stand for anything. It was still widely referred to as the "British Airports Authority" by both the media and the public, though the Authority was dissolved following the 1986 privatisation.[29] BAA should not be confused with BA, the abbreviation of British Airways.[30]
The company's former logo, composed of three green triangles, was created by John Lloyd and Jim Northover of the design consultancy Lloyd Northover, at the time of the privatisation in 1986.
The original BAA plc was acquired in 2006 by Airport Development and Investment Limited (ADI), a new company formed by the Ferrovial consortium. In October 2008, ADI changed its name to BAA Limited,[31] and on 15 October 2012, the company announced that it had changed its name to Heathrow Airport Holdings. Colin Matthews, Chief Executive of the company, said that, given the reduction in the number of airports owned by the company, the BAA name was no longer appropriate; after the sale of Stansted, Heathrow Airport would account for 95% of the company's business. Each remaining airport owned by the company reverted to operating under its own name rather than the BAA banner.
Current operations
Owned and operated
- Heathrow Airport
Rail
- Heathrow Express (with Great Western Railway)
Previous operations
Previously owned and operated airports
- Aberdeen Airport (sold in December 2014 to AGS Airports)
- Edinburgh Airport (sold in April 2012 to Global Infrastructure Partners)
- Gatwick Airport (sold in December 2009 to Global Infrastructure Partners)[43][44]
- Glasgow Airport (sold in December 2014 to AGS Airports)
- Glasgow Prestwick Airport (sold in 1992)
- Naples International Airport 65% stake (sold in 2010)
Controversies
Heathrow management
The company has received criticism for prioritising shops over extra security aisles at Heathrow.[6] After much criticism for this, BAA removed some shops to provide extra security lanes. The Economist wrote that retail is important for BAA at Heathrow because, by law, landing charges are much less than those of similar-scope airports and shops help make up the difference.[6]
BAA has been accused of under-investing in snow and ice-fighting technology at Heathrow, which led to runway closures and severe delays in December 2010.[48]
In July 2019, Unite threatened a strike over pay after growing frustration on pay inequality. Whilst the CEO John Holland-Kaye was awarded a 103% pay rise from £2,100,000 to £4,200,000, staff have been denied a 4.5% increase.[49]
See also
External links
References
- Annual Report 2024 Heathrow Airport Holdings, retrieved 2 July 2025^
- LHR AIRPORTS LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House) find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk, retrieved 18 April 2021^
- Wulf Teiwes and Morten Tveit, London Business School, http://faculty.london.edu/cvoss/baa/html/baagoes.htm^