Air cargo price-fixing settlement tops US$1.2billion
VOLUNTARY settlement payments in a class-action price-fixing litigation case brought by air cargo customers against 28 major airlines has reached US$1.2 bn.
Air New Zealand is the latest carrier to settle the litigation (see updated list, below), having agreed to pay $35m to direct purchasers of airfreight shipping services, says a statement from Hausfeld, a global claimants’ law firm dedicated to handling such complex litigation, writes Thelma Etim.
The 10-year-old air cargo shipping services antitrust litigation is being held in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
According to Brent Landau, partner at Hausfeld: “This settlement – along with the more than $1bn in recoveries for victims of this worldwide cartel – demonstrates the importance of private enforcement of the antitrust laws.”
The alleged price-fixing scandal has been the subject of a string of antitrust actions around the globe, with big settlements from multi-national airlines in Europe and the USA.
The freight forwarders claimed that 28 airlines colluded to develop and implement ‘an industry-wide index for calculating fuel and security surcharges that were applied to thousands of routes flown worldwide by the defendants’, including flights to and from the USA, and were able to adjust those rates 28 times between January 1, 2000 and September 30, 2006, according to a report and recommendations by US Magistrate Judge Viktor Pohorelsky in the US District Court in October 2014.
All carriers in the New York case have always denied any wrongdoing.
After 10 years fighting the action, the New Zealand national carrier’s general counsel John Blair admits that the risks were reduced by settling, say reports. “There was no credible evidence that any Air New Zealand employee participated in any conspiracy, but the potential for an unexpected verdict was not an acceptable commercial risk for the airline,” he adds.
New Zealand’s national carrier was one of two airlines still holding out in the suit, leaving Air India as the sole remaining defendant.
|
Defendant |
Settlement Amount |
|
Lufthansa |
85,000,000 |
|
Air France/KLM/Martinair |
87,000,000 |
|
American Airlines |
5,000,000 |
|
Japan Airlines |
12,000,000 |
|
SAS |
13,930,000 |
|
All Nippon Airways |
10,400,000 |
|
Cargolux |
35,100,000 |
|
Qantas |
26,500,000 |
|
Thai Airways |
3,500,000 |
|
British Airways |
89,512,000 |
|
Lan/ABSA |
66,000,000 |
|
Malaysia Airlines |
3,200,000 |
|
South African Airways |
3,290,000 |
|
Saudia |
14,000,000 |
|
Emirates |
7,833,000 |
|
El Al Israel Airlines |
15,800,000 |
|
Air Canada |
7,500,000 |
|
Korean Air |
115,000,000 |
|
Singapore Air |
92,492,442 |
|
Cathay Pacific |
65,000,000 |
|
China Airlines |
90,000,000 |
|
Nippon Cargo Airlines |
36,350,000 |
|
Asiana Airlines |
55,000,000 |
|
EVA Airways |
99,000,000 |
|
Polar Air Cargo/Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings |
100,000,000 |
|
Air China |
50,000,000 |
|
Air New Zealand |
35,000,000 |
|
Total |
1.223 billion |
