From Cargonews Asia:
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific and four other airlines have been fined a total US$504 million for conspiring to fix air cargo prices.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said Cathay Pacific Airways, Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Martinair and SAS Cargo held meetings between 2001 and 2006 aimed at suppressing and eliminating competition by fixing the cargo rates charged to customers for international air shipments.
"This was something that was a very concerted long-term practice," said Kevin O'Connor, the DOJ's associate attorney general.
The companies, which the DOJ said are co-operating with its ongoing investigation, are charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act.
"The air cargo conspirators artificially raised the prices paid to ship billions of dollars of goods," said Scott Hammond, deputy assistant attorney general in charge of criminal enforcement for the DOJ's anti-trust division. "American businesses and consumers ended up picking up the tab."
Statement from Tony Tyler:
Unfortunately, some of our actions relating to shipments from Hong Kong to the United States were in conflict with US anti-trust laws, said CEO Tony Tyler, after Cathay agreed to pay a US$60 million fine for conspiring to fix air cargo prices.