Airports operator BAA is buying an £8m stake in online travel and entertainment service Lastminute.com.

The British Airports Authority is part of a consortium buying an £18m stake in the service.

Other partners in the stake include Bass Hotels & Resorts, Sony Music Entertainment, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Viventures, Priceline.com Incorporated and Mitsubishi Corporation Finance.

The investors will help the web business grow, develop its content and help launch marketing campaigns in the UK and abroad.

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London-based Lastminute.com, which was founded in 1998, offers last-minute deals on travel, hotels, gifts and entertainment.

BAA - which owns seven UK airports including Gatwick and Heathrow - is aiming to develop its e-commerce arm.

It has been hit hard by the scrapping of duty-free goods and is seeking other forms of income.

The airports group plans to widen the range of last-minute deals.

Lastminute.com will be given marketing opportunities at BAA's airports.

And BAA will be able to offer Lastminute.com deals on its own website.

Lastminute.com founder, Martha Lane-Fox, said the consortium was taking less than 50% of the company but declined to say what proportion it was.

She said it showed they had global ambitions, from Asia to the US.