Air New Zealand has been awarded NZ$3.2 million (US$2.72 million) in legal costs after successfully defending itself against allegations of price fixing in the Australian air cargo market, according to Shipping Gazette.
But other airlines in the civil class action case have been ordered to pay a total of A$38 million (US$35.53 million) in a damage settlement with air cargo customers in the Federal Court of Australia.
Air New Zealand has continuously denied any wrongdoing in this class action case and in a separate federal court case, brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
A final decision by Australia's federal court is still pending, in respect of those ACCC proceedings, reported Lloyd's List.
In 2007, Australian law firm Maurice Blackburn took the class action against major international airlines including Qantas, Lufthansa Cargo, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Air New Zealand and British Airways, in relation to international air freight services stretching back to January 2000.
Last June, following a Commerce Commission investigation into Air New Zealand, the airline was ordered by the High Court to pay a NZ$7.5 million (US$6.38 million) penalty for price-fixing as part of a settlement.
Although Air New Zealand initially challenged the decision, it agreed to withdraw its proceeding challenging the settlement agreement and to pay costs to the commission in relation to the settlement of the dispute.
But the company continues to defend a related class action claim in the US which, subject to the decision on the ACCC proceedings, after saying it was the only outstanding litigation against it relating to price-fixing accusations.
The airline was cleared by the European Commission in 2010 of involvement in price-fixing in the EU and by the US Department of Justice in 2011.
A total of 22 airlines and 21 executives have been charged in the US Department of Justice's on-going investigation, with US$1.8 billion in criminal fines being imposed and six executives sent to jail.
The European Commission has also fined 11 air cargo airlines a total of EUR800 million (US$1.091 billion), and Australia's competition commission has reportedly fined carriers EUR100 million.
-
Company DirectoryFreight RateExport RateAgency PartnershipCargo Leads