Japan Airlines agreed to plead guilty to price fixing on international cargo shipments and pay a $110 million fine, the US Justice Department said on Wednesday.
In the plea agreement, which was filed in the US district
court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday, Japan Airlines acknowledged
conspiring to fix freight prices between 2000 and 2006, the Justice Department
said. The Justice Department said Japan Airlines conspired to fix prices
to ship products on certain trans-Pacific routes, according to court
documents. Japan Airlines told a Japanese newspaper in October 2007 that
it anticipated roughly JPY20 billion yen (USD$171 million) in fines from a
global price fixing probe by US and EU officials. The plea agreements
are part of a continuing, wide-ranging investigation of the air transport
industry by the Justice Department's antitrust division.
British Airways and Korean Air Lines pleaded guilty last year and paid fines for participating in the conspiracy. In January, Qantas also pleaded guilty to price fixing. British Airways and Korean Air each agreed to pay $300 million in fines each while Qantas agreed to pay $61 million. The European Union and Australia also have price fixing probes under way. In February 2006, US and European officials raided airlines on both sides of the Atlantic as part of the probe.
