The European Commission has fined British Airways as well as some of the world's biggest airlines for its involvement in a price-fixing cargo cartel that ran between 1999 and 2006.
The EU's watchdog fined 11 airlines almost €800 million in total, one of the biggest fine's in EU history, after a three-year investigation came to an end last week. The airlines were found guilty of coordinating surcharges for fuel and security.
The latest setback to hit the UK's number one carrier resulted in a £90m fine, which BA claims to have made provisions for in its 2006/7 report and accounts.
Businesses suffered escalated prices to move their goods over the six year period and European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told reporters in Brussels: "With today's decision, the European Commission is sending a clear message that it will not tolerate cartel behavior."
"It is deplorable that so many major airlines coordinated their pricing to the detriment of European businesses and European consumers," Almunia added.
Four other members of the Oneworld Alliance of which BA is a founding member, including Cathay Pacific and Qantas, were guilty of imposing a "flat rate surcharge per kilo for all shipments".
Only Air France-KLM were fined more than BA, with the French-Dutch partners having to pay €310m, leading them to claim the fines were "disproportionate".
Chris Welsh, the Freight Transport Association’s (FTA) general manager, told freshinfo: "The substantial fines handed down for illegal cartels are a salutary reminder to those in the freight transport sector that EU competition laws must be strictly observed.
“FTA has been a keen campaigner for the liberalisation of transport markets, particularly the removal of cargo tariff coordination in the air cargo industry and the removal of the liner conference system.
“The magnitude of fines levied underlines the importance of competition policy in ensuring the maintenance of free and competitive transport markets for shippers in the modern global economy".
German airline Lufthansa, and its subsidiary Swiss Air, were part of the cartel but avoided any fine by lifting the lid on the price-fixing and revealing all to the EU Commissioners first.
Eleven other carriers and one consultancy firm also escaped any punishment.
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