British Airways Fined For Price Fixing
It now seems that British Airways is set to be fined almost £3 million. This huge fee comes after British Airways apparently plead guilty to taking part in a cartel that fixed prices on air cargo in Canada. However, this is not the first time that British Airways has been fined for price fixing. Back in July of 2007, the carrier was fined £121.5 million in a separate price fixing cartel that involved surcharges on passenger fares.
The fine, being issued by Canada’s Competition Bureau, is the latest in a series of penalties imposed by authorities on airlines around the world in what has become one of the biggest international cartel investigations. The Competition Bureau went on to announce that British Airways admitted to fixing surcharges on the sale and supply of international air cargo exported on certain routes from Canada. Apparently this took place between April 2002 and February of 2006.
The competition authorities in the United States, Europe and Australia have been investigating price fixing in the airline industry. The United States investigations have led to the prosecution of 15 airlines and has resulted in fines of $1.6 billion.
This news comes on the heels of the announcement that British Airways could be facing the possibility of a Christmas strike and prepares to announce record losses on this coming Friday when it finally presents its second quarter results. The airline already recorded a £401 million pretax loss last year. It has been warning that it expects to suffer an even bigger loss this year, which is bad news for the struggling airline.
