Ex-BA chief faces jail over price-fixing
A former British Airways executive faces jail in the US after agreeing to plead guilty to playing a role in the global conspiracy to fix prices for air cargo shipments.
The US justice department (DoJ) said last night that Keith Packer, former commercial general manager of BA World Cargo, would serve eight months in prison and pay a fine of $20,000 (€14,100, £11,200).
Mr Packer, a British citizen, is the first foreign national to be charged by US authorities as part of an ongoing investigation into airline industry price-fixing.
BA has already been fined heavily by US and UK authorities for its role in separate conspiracies to fix both cargo rates and passenger fares. Several former and current BA executives remain under investigation in both the US and the UK.
Mr Packer is the third air cargo industry executive to be jailed for his part in the conspiracy, after the prison sentences given earlier this year to one former executive from Qantas and one from SAS Scandinavian Airlines.
The plea agreement between Mr Packer and the DoJ is still subject to court approval. The DoJ said he had agreed to co-operate with the investigation, which is ongoing.
Competition officials from around the world are investigating the air freight industry in what has become one of the world’s biggest cartel probes. Further charges are expected to be brought by the EU against airlines.
In August the UK Office of Fair Trading said four former and present BA executives had been charged with cartel offences in connection with the OFT’s criminal investigation into the price-fixing of fuel surcharges for long-haul passenger flights. They are due in court next month.
Martin George, BA’s ex-commercial director, Iain Burns, former head of communications, Andrew Crawley, currently BA Head of Sales and formerly GM Australia and Alan Burnett, former head of UK and Ireland sales are accused of involvement in a conspiracy with Virgin Atlantic between 2004 and 2006.
More than 20 airlines are under investigation in the DoJ cargo probe, and it has already fined nine carriers more than $1.2bn – the highest ever in a criminal antitrust investigation.
A Report by The Moel from The Financial Times
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