Court upholds airline fine of 127 million euros

A European court has upheld a 127 million euro fine for the fixing of fuel and security costs in the air cargo sector.

KLM who were issued with the fine are on of 11 airlines that were slapped with fines totalling 790 million euros after they formed a cartel between 1999 and 2006. The airlines that were fined include KLM’s partner Air France, its subsidiary Martinair, SAS, Air Canada and British Airways.

The airlines were originally issued with a fine of 800 million euros in 2010 by the European Commission, but that fine was quashed for technical reasons.

After further investigations new fines were issued in 2017, with Martinair’s fine being reduced.

Eight of the airlines went to General Court of the European Union to challenge the fines, but their case was dismissed on Wednesday March 30^th.  The airlines have been given two months to challenge the ruling, although no airlines has yet to indicate whether they intend to do so.

Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines were also complicit in the cartel but did not go to court, as they were never fined agiven they brought the abuse and the news of the cartel to attention of the EU.

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