BAA management will meet with lawyers to decide whether to obey a ‘sell Stansted Airport’ order from the Competition Commission or take the appeal further and higher.

BAA can appeal the appeal – or they can go higher to the Court of Appeal, which would be the end of the legal runway.

The crunch will come when weighing the cost of a court room battle against the price BAA might realise for the Essex hub in a depressed global climate.

Ferrovial, the Spanish infrastructure company which led a consortium that paid £10bn for BAA and its UK airports portfolio in June 2006, would effectively be selling the airport in a fire sale.

The price could be further depressed as BAA has to sell Edinburgh Airport first – probably mid-summer – as part of the Competition Commission sell-off instructions.

BAA’s official response to the CC decision read: “We are disappointed by the decision of the Competition Appeal Tribunal, which we will now carefully consider before making any further statements.”

BAA has a month to decide if it will appeal or accept the decision. The timetable for any sale has not been made public.