British Airways Fined over Price Fixing
British Airways has been fined 121.5 million pounds ($247 million) for price-fixing by Britain's Office of Fair Trading with a related U.S. Department of Justice fine set to take the total penalties to be paid within 350 million pounds, the firm said on Wednesday.
The OFT said BA had admitted colluding with rival Virgin Atlantic Airways to fix passenger fuel surcharges on longhaul flights from August 2004 to January 2006.
The OFT estimated that the surcharges rose from five pounds to 60 pounds per ticket for a typical BA or Virgin Atlantic long-haul return flight during that period.
The United States Department of Justice will announce how much it plans to fine BA later on Wednesday, the airline said.
BA said the combined fines would be "consistent with guidance and provision of 350 million pounds," although that provision also covered possible penalties imposed by other countries in addition to the United States and the U.K.
Virgin will not be fined after it turned whistleblower.
