Gatwick, Britain's second-largest airport, has been put on the market by its Spanish owner BAA. The airport has been valued at £1.8bn.
The decision comes barely a month after the Competition Commission said BAA might have to sell three of its seven UK airports because of market monopoly concerns and poor service for passengers.
Interested parties are thought to include Germany's Hochtief, Global Infrastructure Partners, the GE-Credit Suisse Investment fund and Australian company MacQuarie.
Virgin Atlantic chief executive, Steve Ridgway, has been eager to have the opportunity to bid for Gatwick as part of a buying consortium.
In 2007 35.1 million customers used Gatwick airport. The airport is the busiest single-runway airport in the world.
Plans for the future development of Gatwick focused on the airport’s expansion as a single-runway, two-terminal airport to grow to accommodate 40m customers a year by 2010-2011.
