South Korea fines airlines
26 / 05 / 2010
SOUTH Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has fined 19 airlines a total of 120 billion won (US$98 million) fine for cargo price-fixing, cautioning two others.
The FTC found the airlines guilty of conspiring to introduce fuel surcharges for freight cargoes or continued to raise them over the past seven years. This is estimated to have resulted in the loss if $5 billion worth of sales in the South Korean market.
Korean Air Lines took the brunt of the fine – $39 million – with Asiana Airlines next heavily fined with $16 million. However, Korean Air will actually only pay $18 million because it voluntarily admitted its wrong doing to the FTC.
Other airlines fined include Air France, Cathay Pacific Airways, Japan Airlines International, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, while the two companies warned were Air India and Scandinavian Airlines System.
