More strife over BA fuel surcharges.
From today's FT. Headline news no less. Not exactly unexpected news but more trouble just when they don't need it.
Four past and present British Airways executives are to be charged with price-fixing in a landmark criminal prosecution that will send tremors through leading multinationals, the Financial Times has learned.
The cartel case, only the second brought by the Office of Fair Trading, leaves senior figures from one of Britain’s biggest corporate names facing the threat of up to five years in jail.
The OFT’s action, the latest in a crackdown on price-fixing in sectors ranging from supermarkets and tobacco to construction, raises the prospect that other bosses may face prosecution.
The watchdog has decided to charge the four men over a conspiracy between BA and Virgin Atlantic between 2004 and 2006 to fix the price of passenger fuel surcharges on transatlantic flights.
Those to be charged are: Andrew Crawley, BA’s head of sales; Martin George, former commercial director and board member; Iain Burns, former head of communications; and Alan Burnett, former head of UK and Ireland sales.