Airline bid for airport fails to take off
05-01-2009
Two leading airlines have pulled out of the race to purchase London Gatwick Airport, industry reports suggest.
Virgin Atlantic and low-cost airline EasyJet had hoped to bring in additional financial backers to mount a standalone bid but a spokesman for Virgin is reported as saying the airline was now focused on offering its experience and help to one of the other bidders.
The spokesman went on to say that although Virgin was not looking to put its own money into the airport but it has valuable customer experience - and that is what the new owners of Gatwick will need.
Only two confirmed parties are now known to definitely be in the running to purchase the London airport, which is estimated to be worth around £2 billion.
Hochtief AirPort is a division of the German engineering firm Hochtief, while Citigate Infrastructure is a consortium that includes the Citigroup bank.
Citigate Infrastructure, which also includes Vancouver Airports and the US financial institution John Hancock purchased Midway Airport in Chicago for around $2.5 billion (£1.7 billion) whilst Hochtief AirPort maintains shareholdings in Budapest, Athens, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Tirana and Sydney airports.
Meanwhile there are also rumours that Manchester Airports Group is also preparing to mount a bid for Gatwick, but is yet to complete that process.
Virgin Atlantic and low-cost airline EasyJet had hoped to bring in additional financial backers to mount a standalone bid but a spokesman for Virgin is reported as saying the airline was now focused on offering its experience and help to one of the other bidders.
The spokesman went on to say that although Virgin was not looking to put its own money into the airport but it has valuable customer experience - and that is what the new owners of Gatwick will need.
Only two confirmed parties are now known to definitely be in the running to purchase the London airport, which is estimated to be worth around £2 billion.
Hochtief AirPort is a division of the German engineering firm Hochtief, while Citigate Infrastructure is a consortium that includes the Citigroup bank.
Citigate Infrastructure, which also includes Vancouver Airports and the US financial institution John Hancock purchased Midway Airport in Chicago for around $2.5 billion (£1.7 billion) whilst Hochtief AirPort maintains shareholdings in Budapest, Athens, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Tirana and Sydney airports.
Meanwhile there are also rumours that Manchester Airports Group is also preparing to mount a bid for Gatwick, but is yet to complete that process.
