Australia widens cartel investigation

AUSTRALIA’S competition regulator – the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) – will widen its net and attempt to prosecute even more airlines for their alleged part in airfreight cartel behaviour.The latest airline – the 11th – to be targeted is Thai Airways. The ACCC says that at a federal hearing on 26 November it will allege that the airline fixed airfreight fuel and security surcharges between 2001 and 2006.The ACCC has so far managed to bring successful prosecutions against six airlines, netting it a generous A$41 million (US$37.1 million) in paid fines. It also has ongoing cases against Cathay Pacific, Emirates Airline, Garuda and Singapore Airlines.The commission’s barrister, Cameron Moore, said that the ACCC will begin ”more proceedings in the very near future” against other airlines, although other than Thai, the other airlines have not yet been revealed.

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