LONDON (Reuters) -- BAA, the owner of Heathrow Airport in London, should be broken up and its Gatwick and Stansted terminals sold off to foster competition, antitrust regulators said Wednesday.

The British Competition Commission also said in a Regulatory News Service statement that BAA, owned by Ferrovial of Spain, should also be required to sell either the Edinburgh or Glasgow airports in Scotland.
""The commission proposes the divestiture of two of BAA's London airports,"" the agency, which is based in London, said in the statement. ""Guidelines mean that it unlikely to require the divestiture of Heathrow unless the sale of Gatwick or Stansted is likely to be impractical or ineffective.""
Crowded concourses at BAA's London airports and the chaotic opening of Heathrow Terminal 5 have led lawmakers to advocate splitting up the company's holdings. Airlines including Ryanair Holdings and Virgin Atlantic Airways, struggling with higher fuel costs and slowing economies, also back dismantling BAA, saying its dominance provides no incentive for improvements.