Qantas sets aside $47 million for price fixing fines
An ABC reports says that Geoff Dixon CEO says the practice adopted by Qantas Freight is likely to have breached relevant competition laws, with Qantas saying it will put aside $47 million to cover a fine that may be imposed in the United States due to alleged price-fixing by its freight division.
Chief executive officer Geoff Dixon says Qantas has been cooperating with price-fixing investigations in the US, Australia, Europe, New Zealand and elsewhere.
“These investigations revealed that the practice adopted by Qantas Freight and the cargo industry generally to fix and impose fuel surcharges was likely to have breached relevant competition laws,” he said in a statement.
“To date, it has not been possible to quantify any direct or indirect liability associated with these matters.”
The statement notes that British Airways and Korean Air have agreed to plead guilty and each pay US$300 million in criminal fines for their roles in conspiracies to fix prices of passenger and cargo flights.
British Airways subsequently announced that US$200 million ($A237 million) of its fine related to cargo.
Mr Dixon says in the statement that Qantas has decided to set aside US$40 million (A$47 million) in the 2006/07 financial accounts to pay a potential fine.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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