Qantas Airways has agreed to pay $26.5 million to settle a US lawsuit that claimed it conspired with others to fix prices on cargo shipments. The complaint, brought by Paradiso, a California-based retailer of women’s clothing, alleged that between January 2000 and September 11, 2006, claimed that Qantas and 19 other airlines in 2006 illegally conspired to fix, raise or maintain surcharges that were imposed after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US and the outbreak of the war in Iraq in 2003.
Other airline accused have also settled: Air France-KLM has agreed to settled the claim with an $87 million payment; Deutsche Lufthansa agreed to pay $85 million; Cargolux Airlines $35.1 million, Scandinavian Airlines $13.9 million, Japan Airlines $12 million, All Nippon Airways $10.4 million and American Airlines will pay $5 million.
A hearing has been scheduled for June 24 in New York to determine if the settlements are fair.
In 2007 Qantas agreed to pay a $61 million criminal fine and pleaded guilty to participating in the global conspiracy; it also agreed to pay A$20 million to settle charges of price fixing filed by Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission.