Overpay for a business, gear it up as much as possible, then wait for the regulator to bail you out. That is, more or less, what Ferrovial, the owner of BAA’s London airports, has achieved courtesy of the Civil Aviation Authority.

The CAA announced the regulatory framework for BAA until 2013. The terms are considerably more generous than those originally proposed last autumn. The assumed cost of capital has not changed, despite credit market turmoil, but BAA can now charge airlines an extra £400m in total over the next five years. Airport charges at Heathrow and Gatwick over the period are now likely to reach £6.8bn.