The Airports Act 1986 (c. 31) is an

Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom an act of Parliament is primary legislation passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. An act of Parliament can be enforced in all four of the UK constituent countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Irelan ...

. The act reformed

civil aviation Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military and non-state aviation, both private and commercial. Most of the countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and work ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

and

privatised Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

the

British Airports Authority Heathrow Airport Holdings is the United Kingdom-based operator of Heathrow Airport. The company also operated Gatwick Airport, Stansted Airport, Edinburgh Airport and several other UK airports, but was forced by the Competition Commission to se ...

from a public department into BAA as a private company. It also granted additional regulatory powers to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Effect

The British Airports Authority was established in 1965 by the Airports Authority Act 1965 to take management of the UK's larger airports into public ownership under a government authority. The Airports Act 1986 transferred the powers relating to running government owned airports from the British Airports Authority from the public sector to the private sector as part of a

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

government policy of privatisation. BAA plc. was created as a result of the act to take over the authority's responsibilities. The act also granted statutory authority to the CAA to continue to regulate civil aviation in the United Kingdom as well as BAA. At the time of passage, BAA became responsible for

London Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

, London Gatwick Airport,

London Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations ac ...

Glasgow Prestwick Airport Glasgow Prestwick Airport () is an international airport serving the west of Scotland, situated northeast of the town of Prestwick in South Ayrshire and southwest of Glasgow. It is the less busy of the two airports serving the western part of ...

Glasgow International Airport gd, Port-adhair Eadar-nàiseanta Ghlaschu , image = Glasgow Airport logo.svg , image-width = 200 , image2 = GlasgowAirportFromAir.jpg , image2-width = 250 , IATA = GLA , ICAO = EGPF , type = Public , owner = AGS Airports , hub = *easy ...

Edinburgh Airport Edinburgh Airport is an airport located in the Ingliston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2019, handling over 14.7 million passengers. It was also the sixth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom by ...

and

Aberdeen Airport Aberdeen International Airport ( gd, Port-adhair Eadar-nàiseanta Obar Dheathain) is an international airport, located in the Dyce suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland, approximately northwest of Aberdeen city centre. A total of just under 3.1&nbs ...

. The act only applied to Great Britain and does not apply to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The act also included a number of miscellaneous provisions that were eventually mirrored in airport bylaws. This had the effect of making breaches of airport bylaws punishable under criminal law. An example of this was in 2016 where two people were arrested and charged for being "drunk or under the influence of drugs or other intoxicating substances" in "a restricted area of the airport" contrary to Sections 63 and 63.1 of the Airports Act.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Great Britain Airports in the United Kingdom Privatisation in the United Kingdom 1986 in British law Civil aviation in the United Kingdom