BAA ditches name to be ‘Heathrow’

BAA is changing its name to Heathrow. The Spanish-owned company that runs some of the UK’s airports said it will be known as after its largest airport because it no longer represents a large number of UK terminals. In 2009, competition authorities forced it to sell its stakes in Gatwick and Edinburgh, and it has also agreed to offload the London-serving airport Stansted. After the rebranding, the group’s other airports – Glasgow, Southampton and Aberdeen – will also become standalone brands. The company insisted there would be no changes to its management structure, and no redundancies as part of the process. But it warned there would be delays in removing its BAA-emblazoned signs from terminals, as well as issuing staff with uniforms free of its previous insignia. BAA could not put a time frame on completing re-branding. The company also said it does not have a figure for how much the move will cost. Chief executive Colin Matthews said: ‘The BAA name no longer fits. We do not represent all British airports. We are not a public authority, and practically speaking the company is no longer a group as Heathrow will account for more than 95pc of the business.’