Swiss (LX, Zurich) and parent Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) have escaped CHF11million (USD12.1million) in fines levied by the Swiss Competition Commission (COMCO) against a cabal of international carriers following an extensive investigation into an air freight price-fixing racket. COMCO says its investigation revealed that Atlas Air (5Y, New York JFK), Korean Air (KE, Seoul Incheon), American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth), United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare), SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup), JAL - Japan Airlines (JL, Tokyo Haneda), Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi), Cathay Pacific (CX, Hong Kong International), Cargolux (CV, Luxembourg), British Airways (BA, London Heathrow), Air France (AF, Paris CDG) and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam Schiphol), had colluded on freight rates, fuel surcharges, war risk surcharges, customs clearance surcharges for the U.S. and the commissioning of surcharges. COMCO said that Lufthansa and Swiss had obtained full immunity following their self-denunciations. After the initiation of the legal proceedings, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Japan Airlines, Air France-KLM and Cargolux all submitted leniency applications which led to substantial reductions in their respective sanctions. The regulator said the investigation "had been characterized by a high complexity of proceedings because of the large number of air transport agreements with third party States."
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