Following defeat in court at the end of 2015, the European Commission went back on the offensive, on Friday 17 March, against 11 airfreight carriers, featuring fines of more than €776 million handed down over a price-fixing cartel.
With the exception of just a few details, this is the same decision the Commission made in November 2010 (see EUROPE 10253). This time, the institution hopes that the General Court of the EU you will not overturn the decision on procedural grounds, as it did in December 2015, due to a discrepancy between its reasoning and the operative part of the decision (see EUROPE 11455).
The new decision, therefore, aims mainly to put right the initial error, the Commission explains. In substance, the decision is identical regarding the anti-competitive behaviour and the fines have been set at exactly the same level as in the 2010 decision, with the exception of the one handed down to Martinair (as its turnover was much lower in 2016 than it was in 2009).
Lufthansa and its subsidiary Swiss International Air Lines continue to benefit from total immunity. The other companies involved, however, will all be fined the same amount as they were in 2010, with the highest fines for Air France (€182.9 million), KLM (€127.1 million) and British Airways (€104 million).
According to the news agency Reuters, the Commission unsuccessfully sought an amicable resolution with the airlines. A spokesperson for the institution, Ricardo Cardoso, said on Friday that no “formal settlement procedure” had been initiated in this case. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)