United Kingdom: British Airways to pay £ 58 500 000...
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40 • United Kingdom: Brish Airways to pay £ 58 500 000 (approximately € 71 515 000) Penalty in OFT Fuel Surcharge Decision On 19 April 2012, the Office of Fair Trading announced its decision that Brish Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlanc Airways (VAA) engaged in an-compeve pracces in relaon to the pricing of passenger fuel surcharges, and imposed a fine of £ 58 500 000 on BA. VAA brought the maer to the OFT’s aenon and, under the OFT’s leniency policy, has not been fined. The OFT has concluded that between August 2004 and January 2006, BA and VAA co-ordinated their surcharge pricing on long-haul flights to and from the UK through the exchange of pricing and other commercially sensive informaon. This decision brings the OFT’s invesgaon to a conclusion. The fine imposed on BA is a reducon in the level of fine originally agreed between the OFT and BA in August 2007 as part of an early resoluon agreement. The fine was reassessed following the issue of a Statement of Objecons in November 2011 in light of a number of factors. These included legal developments regarding penalty seng for compeon law infringements and the fact that the overall value added to the OFT’s invesgaon by BA’s co-operaon was greater than had been ancipated at the me of the original agreement. See press release of 19 April 2012
Transcript of United Kingdom: British Airways to pay £ 58 500 000...
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• United Kingdom: British Airways to pay £ 58 500 000 (approximately € 71 515 000) Penalty in OFT Fuel Surcharge DecisionOn 19 April 2012, the Office of Fair Trading announced its decision that British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic Airways (VAA) engaged in anti-competitive practices in relation to the pricing of passenger fuel surcharges, and imposed a fine of £ 58 500 000 on BA. VAA brought the matter to the OFT’s attention and, under the OFT’s leniency policy, has not been fined.
The OFT has concluded that between August 2004 and January 2006, BA and VAA co-ordinated their surcharge pricing on long-haul flights to and from the UK through the exchange of pricing and other commercially sensitive information. This decision brings the OFT’s investigation to a conclusion.
The fine imposed on BA is a reduction in the level of fine originally agreed between the OFT and BA in August 2007 as part of an early resolution agreement. The fine was reassessed following the issue of a Statement of Objections in November 2011 in light of a number of factors. These included legal developments regarding penalty setting for competition law infringements and the fact that the overall value added to the OFT’s investigation by BA’s co-operation was greater than had been anticipated at the time of the original agreement.
See press release of 19 April 2012
