Three Airlines Guilty in Price-Fixing Case

Three international airlines pleaded guilty to cargo price fixing charges and agreed to pay a total of $214 million in fines, the U.S. Department of Justice said April 9, expanding the growing list of carriers caught in a global antitrust conspiracy involving freight rates.

Luxembourg-based Cargolux became the largest all-cargo airline caught in the worldwide investigation of price fixing, agreeing to pay $119 million to settle the charges.

Japan’s Nippon Cargo Airlines also pleaded guilty and will pay a $45 million fine while Korea’s Asiana Airlines pleaded guilty to conspiracy and will pay $50 million.

The pleas bring to 15 the number of carriers that have admitted to conspiracy in a price fixing case that has buffeted the air cargo industry, sending three former senior airline executives to jail and costing carriers $1.6 billion in fines.

Airlines and forwarders also have spent tens of millions of dollars in legal fees responding to an investigation that burst into the open in a series of raids on cargo offices around the world on Valentine’s Day in 2006.

The Justice Department suggested more fines could be coming.

“The department will continue its investigation into this criminal conduct until all co-conspirators are brought to justice,” said Scott D. Hammond, acting assistant attorney general in the department’s antitrust division.