The Office of Fair Trading has reduced BA’s penalty for fuel surcharge fixing with Virgin Atlantic to £58.5 million, less than half the original £121.5 million fine originally imposed
British Airways was fined the record amount back in 2007, for its part in colluding with Virgin Atlantic on fuel surcharges between August 2004 and January 2006. Virgin was granted immunity from penalty under the OFT’s leniency policy, as the carrier alerted the authorities to the collusion.
But BA’s fine has now been reduced to £58.5 million “in light of a number of factors”. According to the OFT these include “legal developments regarding penalty setting for competition law infringements and the fact that the overall value added to the OFT’s investigation by BA’s co-operation was greater than had been anticipated at the time of the original agreement”.
Ali Nikpay, the OFT’s senior director of cartels and criminal enforcement, said that the decision “brings an end to this investigation and sends out a strong message that co-ordinating pricing through the exchange of confidential information between competitors is unlawful”.
Nickpay added that “The fine would have been higher still but for the co-operation provided by BA throughout the OFT’s investigation. Without this, together with BA’s admission of the infringement, the case would have taken considerably longer to resolve.”
For more information visit oft.gov.uk, ba.com.
