Qantas, SIA, others sued in Australia for alleged cargo price-fixing
MELBOURNE (XFN-ASIA) - Seven international airlines are accused of operating a freight price-fixing cartel in a 200-mln-aud class-action lawsuit in Australia, lawyers said.
Australia's flag carrier Qantas Airways, British Airways plc (nyse: BAB - news - people ), Germany's Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines (other-otc: SGPJF.PK - news - people ), Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific, Air New Zealand and Japan Air Lines were named in the suit filed in Melbourne last month.
The suit was filed on behalf of Australian victims of the alleged freight cartel, which has also been the focus of other lawsuits in the US and Canada.
Papers were served on Qantas on Thursday, lawyers said.
The lawsuit alleges the carriers have been fixing cargo prices through the imposition of various surcharges on customers since 2000 in what lawyers for the claimants say is a flagrant case of anti-competitive abuse.
'Air freight surcharges have been unlawfully inflated over the last seven years,' said lawyer Kim Parker of the firm Maurice Blackburn Cashman, which is representing the alleged victims.
'This case will bring those contraventions into the spotlight and will enable the victims of this cartel to claim back significant losses over the period,' she said.
The alleged victims, who shipped goods on the carriers named in the suit, claim that the airlines made a secret agreement to use the surcharges to lift industry prices.
They included fuel surcharges attributed to higher fuel costs, security charges because of extra measures after the Sept 11 attacks on US targets and war-risk surcharges blamed on higher insurance costs linked to the Iraq war.
Lawyers for the Australian victims said they had served papers on Qantas, and an airline spokesman said the company would review the claim and respond once it had examined the papers.
US, European Union and Asian officials announced 11 months ago that they were investigating possible price fixing by the air cargo industry and raided several airline offices around the world.
Australia's flag carrier Qantas Airways, British Airways plc (nyse: BAB - news - people ), Germany's Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines (other-otc: SGPJF.PK - news - people ), Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific, Air New Zealand and Japan Air Lines were named in the suit filed in Melbourne last month.
The suit was filed on behalf of Australian victims of the alleged freight cartel, which has also been the focus of other lawsuits in the US and Canada.
Papers were served on Qantas on Thursday, lawyers said.
The lawsuit alleges the carriers have been fixing cargo prices through the imposition of various surcharges on customers since 2000 in what lawyers for the claimants say is a flagrant case of anti-competitive abuse.
'Air freight surcharges have been unlawfully inflated over the last seven years,' said lawyer Kim Parker of the firm Maurice Blackburn Cashman, which is representing the alleged victims.
'This case will bring those contraventions into the spotlight and will enable the victims of this cartel to claim back significant losses over the period,' she said.
The alleged victims, who shipped goods on the carriers named in the suit, claim that the airlines made a secret agreement to use the surcharges to lift industry prices.
They included fuel surcharges attributed to higher fuel costs, security charges because of extra measures after the Sept 11 attacks on US targets and war-risk surcharges blamed on higher insurance costs linked to the Iraq war.
Lawyers for the Australian victims said they had served papers on Qantas, and an airline spokesman said the company would review the claim and respond once it had examined the papers.
US, European Union and Asian officials announced 11 months ago that they were investigating possible price fixing by the air cargo industry and raided several airline offices around the world.
posted by Evert DuToit at 6:32 AM
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