The act reformed civil aviation in Great Britain and privatised the British Airports Authority from a public department into BAA as a private company.

[1] It also granted additional regulatory powers to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

[4] The act also granted statutory authority to the CAA to continue to regulate civil aviation in the United Kingdom as well as BAA.

[5] 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.