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EU fines British Airways and 9 others for cartel
Business Digest: Fines totalling €800m for airlines involved in cargo pricing cartel
British Airways is among 10 airlines to have been fined a total of €800m by the European Union for their involvement in a cargo pricing cartel between 1999 and 2006.
The EU said the airlines "co-ordinated their action on surcharges for fuel and security without discounts."
"The carriers contacted each other so as to ensure that worldwide air freight carriers imposed a flat rate surcharge per kg for all shipments."
BA were fined €104m, but Air France-KLM were handed the biggest sanction of €339.6m. The other offenders were Qantas, Air Japan, Singapore Airlines, SAS, Cargolux, LAN Chile, Air Canada and Cathay Pacific. German airline Lufthansa escaped a fine because it blew the whistle on the cartel.
EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said: "It is deplorable that so many major airlines coordinated their pricing to the detriment of European businesses and European consumers.
"With today's decision the Commission is sending a clear message that it will not tolerate cartel behaviour."
Read a full report at BBC News. ·
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This is a wonderful example of the EU madness that pretends to be able to regulate and second-guess the businesses they make the rules for, without allowing the free market to apply the pressure of competition to bring the prices down. They fine the companies concerned! Genius!! So the fines get added to the price of a ticket, or the cost of sending a package...just what we need. And for a real laugh, you should see the EU parliamentary recording of the transport committee proceedings on the morning of Tuesday 9 November 2010...they are all discussing the Yemen printer cartridge bombs and airport security, and eventually someone asks the question of the cost of all the new security, "are we going to bleed the passengers dry?"...well, erm...yes.