8 Jul 2009

Guilty plea to price-fixing by Qantas

3:04 pm on 8 July 2009

Qantas Airways has pleaded guilty to being part of a conspiracy to fix air cargo prices on routes from Canada for the four years to February 2006.

The airline has been fined C$155,000 by Canada's Competition Bureau.

Air France, KLM and Martinair have previously pleaded guilty to price-fixing and were fined a total of C$10 million.

The bureau says all four admitted fixing surcharges on routes leaving Canada.

Separately, the Commerce Commission in New Zealand says it is still waiting on court dates in relation to its investigation into whether Air New Zealand and 12 other airlines operating in this country colluded over fuel surcharges in the air cargo industry.

Air New Zealand says it has adamantly told the commission for the last three years it has never condoned anti-competitive behaviours.