UK GOVERNMENT SEEN HALVING NATS ATC STAKE

June 8, 2010 at 3:13 pm | Posted in Aviation Law Current Event | Leave a comment

by Sara M. Langston with the blog faculty

Source: Air Wise

The UK government is likely to sell half its stake in British air traffic control operator NATS and some of the group that controls NATS may also lower their stakes, the chairman of The Airline Group said on Monday.

Peter Read said on the sidelines of an aviation industry summit the government — keen to sell assets to help pay down a record deficit — could keep its stake at 49 percent, cut it to 25 percent, or sell it all but retain a golden share.

Read said some of the seven airlines that own The Airline Group — which controls 42 percent of NATS and is the strategic operator of the company — could “very possibly reduce their shareholdings as well.” The seven are British Airways, easyJet, Lufthansa-owned bmi, Virgin Atlantic, Thomas Cook, TUI Travel and Monarch Airlines. The remaining 9 percent of NATS is held by airport operators and staff….more