CX, JAL offices "raided" by EU+US agents for price-fixing

[Denny Yen 0]

Picked this piece of news this morning. Sounds very serious.

 

AFX News Limited

Cathay Pacific, JAL come under EU/US cargo cartel probe

02.15.2006, 03:22 AM

 

HONG KONG (AFX) - Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific and Japanese flag carrier Japan Air Lines (JAL) said they have been among the airlines visited by European and American investigators as part of a global probe into suspected price-fixing in the air cargo industry.

 

Cathay Pacific said it is among 'a number of international airlines' caught up in the joint EU and US investigation.

 

In a statement, the company denied any wrongdoing and said it is cooperating with investigators.

 

'Cathay Pacific is in cooperation with the European Union Commission and United States Department of Justice in respect to their investigation into air cargo operations,' the statement said.

 

'We understand that they have also requested information from a number of international airlines,' it added.

 

A Cathay Pacific spokeswoman said the inspection of its premises had been unannounced but she would not characterize it as a raid.

 

'I don't know what happened elsewhere but in Hong Kong it was very business-like,' the spokeswoman said. 'Cathay is a law-abiding company.'

 

Separately, Hirokazu Inoue, a spokesman for JAL said Asia's largest carrier had been raided.

 

'Our office in Frankfurt was raided by the European Union's anti-monopoly authorities,' Inoue said.

 

'We have nothing to say about the matter as it is still under investigation but we will fully cooperate with the authorities on the investigation,' he added.

 

EU inspectors raided the offices of major European airlines yesterday but did not name the companies.

 

British Airways, however, said earlier yesterday it has received a request for information from both the EU executive and the US Justice Department as part of a probe into a suspected cartel of airlines and air freight companies.

 

It added that it has always conformed with anti-trust regulations and will cooperate with the EU and US authorities.

 

Air France and Deutsche Lufthansa AG said they are being investigated by the EU executive and will fully cooperate.

http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2...afx2527495.html

 

 

[Pieter C. 5]

Same has happened for the cargo offices of both AF and KL !!!

[Denny Yen 0]

Same has happened for the cargo offices of both AF and KL !!!

More airlines (BA, Asiana, KE, SAS, ANA, etc) are now being raided.

 

Airlines raided in global cargo probe

Wed Feb 15, 2006 5:24 AM GMT

 

TOKYO (Reuters) - A global probe into possible price-fixing in the air cargo industry widened to Asia on Wednesday as Japan Airlines Corp. and two South Korean airlines said authorities had searched their offices.

 

The European Union's executive arm and the U.S. Justice Department conducted searches of some leading airlines' cargo operations in Europe and the United States on Tuesday, and other airlines were asked for information related to the probe.

 

"The Commission has reason to believe that the companies concerned may have violated (a European Union) treaty, which prohibits practices such as price fixing," the European Commission said in a statement. It declined to name the targets.

 

A JAL spokesman said European authorities had searched the Frankfurt offices of its cargo operations. He declined to comment on alleged cartel activity but said, "We are fully cooperating with the probe."

 

Two South Korean airlines, Korean Air Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc., said they were raided by the local antitrust watchdog.

 

"Officials from the Fair Trade Commission came to our cargo business office here, but our offices in Europe and the U.S. were not raided," Korean Air spokesman Lee Hyoung-woo said.

 

Korean Air is the world's top cargo carrier, based on 2004 data.

 

The spokesman said the FTC officials interviewed executives in charge of cargo businesses and removed documents. He added that he did not know the reason for the investigation or whether it was related to the global probe into possible price-fixing.

 

South Korea's FTC declined to comment, citing standard policy on investigations.

 

An Asiana official who declined to be named said cartel team officials from the FTC came to the airline's office and conducted an investigation, initiated by a request from abroad, in relation to fuel surcharges and price-fixing practices.

 

British Airways, Air France KLM and freight airline Cargolux said they were asked for information related to alleged cartel activity. Scandinavian airline SAS also said it had been raided.

 

The world's two biggest airlines, AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, both said they had received inquiries as part of the probe.

 

The cargo business, supported by strong exports from Japanese companies, has been a bright segment for struggling JAL, which expects a net loss this business year due to high fuel prices and a series of safety problems.

 

Earlier this month, JAL said it planned to boost its global cargo service by nearly 20 percent to 61 flights a week in the year starting April, led by an increase in Asian and U.S. routes.

 

JAL's smaller rival All Nippon Airways Co. said it outsources cargo operations in Frankfurt to unlisted Nippon Cargo Airlines Co., which said it had not been raided.

 

A spokeswoman said ANA's offices, including ones in Paris and London, had not been searched regarding the suspected cartel activity.

 

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticl...&archived=False

 

 

[Chan CS 0]

i think, the airline can control the price because they really have the power, right? so what for US + EU want this kind of things to stop? this is economy natural...

 

if US + EU think this is wrong, they should ask their nation's carrier to fight with ASIAN's cargo carrier... thus decrease the prices...

Edited February 16, 2006 by Chan CS