Air New Zealand cops $15m fine over price fixing

Air New Zealand cops $15m fine over price fixing

The Australian Federal Court has ordered Air New Zealand to pay $15 million in penalties for participating in a global air cargo cartel.

The court found the carrier was involved in agreements with other airlines to fix fuel prices and insurance charges on freight services from Hong Kong as well as security charges from Singapore between 2002 and 2007, reports Fairfax.

The case was brought to the Federal Court by the Australia Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

“These illegal price fixing agreements unfairly reduced competition for the transport cost for goods flown into Australia,” ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said according to the Australian Financial Review.

The airline also agreed to pay an additional $2 million towards ACCC’s legal costs.

Since the organisation launched its investigation into the air cargo cartel in 2006, penalties totalling $113.5 million have been charged to 14 airlines, with Qantas paying $20 million in 2008, as per the AFR.

The decision comes just over a year after the high court dismissed the airline’s appeal of a lower court’s 2016 decision.

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