NCA - Nippon Cargo Airlines (KZ, Tokyo Narita) has reportedly moved to settle its part in the Air Cargo Shipping Services Antitrust Litigation suit for USD45million. With a Memorandum of Understanding with plaintiffs having now been signed, the payout is now awaiting approval from a New York court.
The Handy Shipping Guide newswire reports the carrier has also accepted a fine imposed by the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) in a separate case. Payment of said fine should then settle the carrier's involvement in long running lawsuit, having appealed the court’s decision on a number of occasions.
Both the US and South Korea were among many Antitrust Commissions around the world to prosecute a cartel of carriers accused of conspiring to inflate the price of shipping goods by air by manipulating their fuel and security surcharges over the period January 2000 to February 2006.
Plaintiffs claim the conspiracy increased global shipping prices, costing businesses and individuals that ship goods by air billions of dollars in losses.
Of the twenty-three carriers that have already agreed to settlements amounting to over USD1billion, only five have held out including Atlas Air (5Y, New York JFK) subsidiary Polar Air Cargo (PO, New York JFK), Air China (CA, Beijing Capital), Air India (AI, Delhi International), Air New Zealand (NZ, Auckland International), and EVA Air (BR, Taipei Taoyuan).
