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South Africa's Competition Commission confirmed on Thursday that it had referred eight air-cargo carriers to the Competition Tribunal for alleged collusive behaviour that had endured for a ten-year period, from 1996 to 2006.
The companies face allegations of fixing the price of the fuel surcharges and include: British Airways, South African Airways Cargo, Air France Cargo-KLM Cargo, Alitalia Cargo, Cargolux International, Singapore Airlines, Martinair Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo.
Further, Lufthansa, Cargolux, Air France, and KLM face allegations of fixing cargo rates on cargo flown into and out of South Africa. These airlines allegedly met to identify routes and concluded agreements to implement increases in cargo rates on those routes.
The anticompetitive conduct allegedly arose following an increase in the price of jet fuel in 1996. The carriers responded by adopting a fuel-surcharge mechanism that enabled them to decide on the timing and the amount of the fuel surcharge on cargo.
The commission initiated its investigation on March 27, 2006, following an application for leniency by Lufthansa, in which it admitted that various surcharges and price increases were agreed upon with its competitors.
Lufthansa was then granted conditional immunity from prosecution provided it cooperated with the commission in its investigation and prosecution.
The commission wants the tribunal to impose an administrative penalty of 10% of the annual turnover on each of the airlines involved, except Lufthansa.
