BAA, the airports operator bought by a consortium led by Spanish infrastructure company Gruppo Ferrovial in 2006, is aiming to refinance existing debt with a new secured loan backed by cashflows derived from the four airports it owns outside of London.

The operator, which runs seven UK airports including London’s Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, is in discussions with relationship banks over the terms of a new £1bn (€1.33bn) loan, the proceeds from which will be used to part finance some of its acquisition debt.