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NZ regulator to prosecute airlines for price fixing
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16 Dec 2008
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NEW Zealand's Commerce Commission will prosecute 13 airlines - including Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific - and seven individuals for allegedly colluding to raise airfreight prices and impose fuel surcharges over nine years, Reuters reports
The charge was denied by the national carrier Air New Zealand, whose lawyer John Blair said it has been co-operating with the regulator's investigation, but found no basis for the charges.
Mr Blair said the Commerce Commission refuses to present evidence. "We have repeatedly asked the Commerce Commission to present evidence to indicate Air New Zealand has breached any laws. To date they have been either unwilling or unable to do so," he said.
"To have the Commerce Commission announce today that it will embark on proceedings against 13 airlines, having failed to engage with us for almost three years, is clearly an approach designed to justify their existence and seems more about grandstanding than about getting to the bottom of the allegations and facilitating a cooperative approach from the airlines," Mr Blair said.
"The Commerce Commission's disdain for engagement has made this exercise many times more expensive than it needed to be. Whilst we have not had access to any of the documents or allegations of wrongdoing from the Commerce Commission, we expect to vigorously defend the proceedings, which we understand relate to four former and one current cargo division employee."
Said Commerce Commission chairwoman Paula Rebstock: "New Zealand is a long way from its overseas markets and so the harm to our economy and our ability to compete internationally will have been disproportionately greater than in other jurisdictions in which the conduct took place."
Airlines to be prosecuted are Air New Zealand, British Airways, Cargolux International, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Garuda, International, Japan Airlines, Korean Airlines, Malaysian Airline Systems, Qantas and Singapore Airlines, Thai Airlines and United Airlines.
New Zealand's international air cargo market is worth around NZ$400 million (US$219 million), and during the time of the alleged offences, airlines would have earned about NZ$2.9 billion.
The commission has already prosecuted three airlines for not cooperating with its investigation, with a court decision due in January.
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