BAA appeals against Stansted sale fails But it was unclear whether BAA will attempt to hold on to Stansted, which currently handles around 18 million passengers a year. "We are disappointed by the decision of the Competition Appeal Tribunal which we will now carefully consider before making any further statements," a BAA spokesman said. The tribunal's decision was welcomed by Laura Carstensen, Chairman of the BAA Remedies Implementation Group and a member of the original Inquiry team. "Whilst BAA is of course entitled to explore the available avenues for challenge, it is now surely time for BAA to accept our findings and proceed with the necessary divestments," she said BAA is in the process of selling Edinburgh Airport following our ruling. We will now press ahead to ensure that this is followed promptly by the sale of Stansted Airport, to the benefit of passengers and airlines. Ryanair, one of BAA's most vociferous critics in recent years called for Stansted to be surrendered as quickly as possible. "Ferrovial and the BAA have used every legal tactic to delay this sale for four years since it was first recommended by the Competition Commission in 2008," a spokesman said. He added: ""Ferrovial and the other owners of Stansted are unfairly enriching themselves at the expense of UK passengers/visitors who are suffering higher charges and third-rate service at Stansted while the CAA's "inadequate" regulatory regime does nothing to protect airport users." Stansted is the fourth busiest airport in Britain. The airport has 10,200 employees, of which 1,420 are BAA Stansted staff.