London’s City airport is reportedly being sold by its American owners in a deal that could be worth £2bn.
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The Financial Times reports GIP have now appointed advisers to secure a deal for the airport.
It served a record 3.6 million passengers last year, an 8 per cent rise, and is on course to handle 4.1 million this year.
GIP also holds stakes in Gatwick and Edinburgh airports, but the investment firm added it has no plans to sell its stakes in these firms.
Global Infrastructure Partners, the US private equity fund which has owned the airport since 2006, hopes to complete the sale by year’s end, according to Michael McGhee, the head of transport at GIP.
The airport is heavily used by corporate executives who have their offices a few miles away in the City and Canary Wharf.
The airport has been planning a £200m expansion to raise capacity to six million passengers by 2023.
The plans were passed by Newham Council in February only to be blocked in March by London mayor Boris Johnson due to noise concerns.
It would also help open up the airport to new destinations, such as the Gulf, the Middle East, Russia, north Africa and the US east coast.
“There is an enormous amount of potential in LCY and the market for quality assets, and particularly airport assets, is strong”.
He did however demand that i don’t know of any blueprints set up throughout the association for the sale of that other property in Gatwick or Edinburgh.
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Walsh said the recommendation of the third runway at Heathrow made last month by the Airports Commission, chaired by Sir Howard Davies, had “glossed over” the affordability issues and said the plan relies on airlines funding it.
