Qantas Likely to Have Price Fixed
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Qantas Likely to Have Price Fixed
By Mark Schliebs (News.com)
August 02, 2007 09:32pm
QANTAS may be facing massive penalties after admitting it was "likely" it had engaged in price-fixing of the type that saw British Airways fined a total of $643.96m for anti-competitive behaviour last night.
During the trans-Atlantic investigation into the collusion between BA, Korean Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa to set prices, Qantas management handed over documents to the US Department of Justice (DoJ), which showed possible breaches of competition law.
In a later company document from the failed takeover bid by Air Partners Australia dated February 2007 and seen by NEWS.com.au, Qantas admitted the DoJ investigation had found likely breaches in non-passenger services.
"During this investigation Qantas learned that the practice adopted by Qantas Freight and the cargo industry generally, to fix and impose cargo fuel surcharges is likely to have breached relevant competition laws," the document said.
"Qantas has been co-operating fully with all regulators and will continue to provide information to assist with their investigations."
Previous to this Qantas had only admitted that there "may" have been breaches.
Qantas management has categorically denied involvement in price-fixing on passenger services.
In February of this year court cases were launched in the US and Australia alleging anti-competitive Qantas behaviour in the freight and cargo sector.
The sums being extracted from British Airlines in the US and Britain would give the national carrier reason to worry.
Qantas has refused to be drawn on the matter of damages except that it "expects that it will take at least 12 months before it is possible to quantify any direct or indirect liability associated with these matters."
August 02, 2007 09:32pm
QANTAS may be facing massive penalties after admitting it was "likely" it had engaged in price-fixing of the type that saw British Airways fined a total of $643.96m for anti-competitive behaviour last night.
During the trans-Atlantic investigation into the collusion between BA, Korean Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa to set prices, Qantas management handed over documents to the US Department of Justice (DoJ), which showed possible breaches of competition law.
In a later company document from the failed takeover bid by Air Partners Australia dated February 2007 and seen by NEWS.com.au, Qantas admitted the DoJ investigation had found likely breaches in non-passenger services.
"During this investigation Qantas learned that the practice adopted by Qantas Freight and the cargo industry generally, to fix and impose cargo fuel surcharges is likely to have breached relevant competition laws," the document said.
"Qantas has been co-operating fully with all regulators and will continue to provide information to assist with their investigations."
Previous to this Qantas had only admitted that there "may" have been breaches.
Qantas management has categorically denied involvement in price-fixing on passenger services.
In February of this year court cases were launched in the US and Australia alleging anti-competitive Qantas behaviour in the freight and cargo sector.
The sums being extracted from British Airlines in the US and Britain would give the national carrier reason to worry.
Qantas has refused to be drawn on the matter of damages except that it "expects that it will take at least 12 months before it is possible to quantify any direct or indirect liability associated with these matters."
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all pacific routes maybe?
i thinks its a bit hypocritical of the USA to fine BA, as almost all US airlines are propped up with taxpayer funds..
would be nice though to see BA put a fine surcharge on all tickets from the USA.
i thinks its a bit hypocritical of the USA to fine BA, as almost all US airlines are propped up with taxpayer funds..
would be nice though to see BA put a fine surcharge on all tickets from the USA.
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Enema Bandit's Dad,
That is an eay one to answer as aircraft will ineviteably show as well.
Our management's only responsibility is to the shareholders and as such carries out "sustainable management solutions going forward" in order to identify and isolate priorities that will enable it to fulfill these requirements.
These may at one time or another result in discrepancies that may or may not be entirely conducive to the legal requirements of various government authorities and statutes.
That is an eay one to answer as aircraft will ineviteably show as well.
Our management's only responsibility is to the shareholders and as such carries out "sustainable management solutions going forward" in order to identify and isolate priorities that will enable it to fulfill these requirements.
These may at one time or another result in discrepancies that may or may not be entirely conducive to the legal requirements of various government authorities and statutes.
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New company strategy: Lure your competitors in with a few phone calls and copy every price movement then dob them in for price fixing whilst escaping penatly yourself as a whistleblower.
Perhaps not.
Perhaps not.
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There used to be a thing called responsibility.
The withered uneducated CEO could have a read of the word accountability in the dictionary....
Of Course should it be proven, naturally we can expect Dixon to take responsbility and resign...
The withered uneducated CEO could have a read of the word accountability in the dictionary....
Of Course should it be proven, naturally we can expect Dixon to take responsbility and resign...
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Why Cargo and Freight only, unless of course this does include SLF. Would the airlines dabble in similar SLF 
price-fixing over more lucrative routes. Mi no save masta!
price-fixing over more lucrative routes. Mi no save masta!
