In the latest stage of a long legal battle, the Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld the Competition Commission's 2009 ruling that BAA exerted a dominant hold on airports in Scotland and the southeast of England.

BAA owns London's Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, as well as Southampton and Stansted in England, plus Glasgow and Aberdeen airports in Scotland.

In April the group agreed to sell Edinburgh airport to Global Infrastructure Partners, owner of London's City and Gatwick airports, for $1.3 billion.

"The CC has welcomed today's Court of Appeal decision to uphold its decision requiring BAA to sell Stansted airport," the CC said in response to the ruling.

A spokesperson for Ferrovial (FER.MC) owned BAA said the group would now consider the judgment carefully and intended to submit an appeal to the Supreme Court, Britain's highest court.

Stansted, Britain's fourth busiest airport, is a predominantly low-cost leisure and holiday hub based some 50 km northeast of central London. (Reporting by Rhys Jones and Neil Maidment; Editing by David Cowell)

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