JOC Staff | May 28, 2010 8:58AM EDT
South Korean regulators, expanding a global investigation against price fixing in the air freight industry, announced nearly $100 million in penalties against 19 airlines for allegedly conspiring on charges for international air cargo transport.
South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission imposed the fines against carriers including Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific Airways, Air France, British Airways, Japan Airlines and Singapore Airlines and Qantas.
The antitrust regulator, which joined a worldwide investigation that has seen more than $1 billion in fines and sent a handful of cargo executives to jail, said the conspiracy cost South Korean exporters more than $5 billion in added freight charges.
The government did not detail the fines, but national flag carrier Korean Air said its penalty was reduced by more than half, to $18.6 million because it cooperated in the probe and reported the unfair practices voluntarily. Agence France Presse reported regulatory officials had given the carrier “leniency” because of its cooperation.
Singapore Airlines Cargo issued a statement saying it was “very disappointed” in the penalty and that it would look at the commission’s ruling “with a serious view towards mounting an appeal.”