This article explores the UK government's influence on shaping and directing airport policy. UK air travel has increased five-fold over the past 30 years and is projected to increase by between two and three times current levels by 2030. In order to accommodate this growth the government published a new UK airports policy in 2003. The issues surrounding UK airports policy have been brought into the public eye by the takeover of BAA by the Spanish Ferrovial Group and the Office of Fair Trading's announcement that it was looking into the UK airports market (OFT, 2006).