newstodate.aero
Nov 11, 2010 (newstodate): The EU Commission has found 11 airlines guilty of forming a global airfreight rates cartel and fined them for a total of 799 mio euro.
The carriers indicted are Air Canada, Air France-KLM, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Cargolux, Japan Airlines, LAN Chile, Martinair, SAS, Singapore Airlines and Qantas.
Leaving the carriers involved aside, not everyone in the industry is convinced of the Commission's ruling.
-The Commission has taken a principal stand, and its spokesman claims that the cartel has caused damage to European trade. But so far not a single shred of evidence has been produced to document or quantify this alleged damage, says an industry source.
-It is also noteworthy that those most inclined towards driving the issue are the agents that are dissatisfied by being denied commission on the airlines' fuel and security surcharges collected.
-At least no shipper has suffered any damage, or economic loss, as the transactions are between agents and airlines. The whole situation is totally absurd; EU hands out fines for allegedly illegal acts that have not been quantified, says the industry source who prefers to remain anonymous.
The carriers indicted are Air Canada, Air France-KLM, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Cargolux, Japan Airlines, LAN Chile, Martinair, SAS, Singapore Airlines and Qantas.
Leaving the carriers involved aside, not everyone in the industry is convinced of the Commission's ruling.
-The Commission has taken a principal stand, and its spokesman claims that the cartel has caused damage to European trade. But so far not a single shred of evidence has been produced to document or quantify this alleged damage, says an industry source.
-It is also noteworthy that those most inclined towards driving the issue are the agents that are dissatisfied by being denied commission on the airlines' fuel and security surcharges collected.
-At least no shipper has suffered any damage, or economic loss, as the transactions are between agents and airlines. The whole situation is totally absurd; EU hands out fines for allegedly illegal acts that have not been quantified, says the industry source who prefers to remain anonymous.