BA Hit With Hefty Fines
THE airline may be Britain’s pride of the sky, but BA’s involvement in the recent price-fixing scandal will no doubt have damaged its global image as well as putting a dent in its bank balance.
The company has been hit with a record £121.5million fine by the Office of Fair Trading after admitting to price-fixing fuel charges on its long-haul flights. BA also faces more fines, this time from the US Department of Justice, which could see their total pay-out hitting the £350million mark.
According to the OFT, BA had colluded with Virgin Atlantic on at least six occasions between August 2004 and January 2006, during which time surcharges rose from £5 to £60 per ticket.
Virgin Atlantic, on the other hand, has been given immunity after it reported BA’s activity and is therefore not expected to be hit by a fine.
BA chief executive, Willie Walsh, says: “I want to reassure our passengers that they were not overcharged. Fuel surcharges are a legitimate way of recovering costs. However, this does not in any way excuse the anti competitive conduct by a very limited number of individuals within British Airways.”
A rise in surcharges from £5 to £60 in a year and a half hardly seems “legitimate” to me.
Posted: 1st, August 2007 | In: Money Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
