By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Supreme Court should reject an appeal by Air France KLM (OTC:) and its Dutch unit KLM, British Airways, Singapore Airlines (OTC:) and some of their peers against cartel fines imposed by the EU in 2017 antitrust regulators have been imposed. An adviser to the court said on Thursday.
The European Commission re-imposed fines totaling 776 million euros on 11 airlines seven years ago for participating in a cartel to fix air freight prices, after the Luxembourg-based Court struck down its first decision from 2010 due to a procedural error.
The carriers took their complaint to the lower tribunal, which rejected their objections in 2022, prompting them to appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
The Court’s judges should dismiss their appeal, CJEU Advocate General Athanasios Rantos said in a non-binding opinion, siding with the EU competition enforcer.
He said SAS’s appeal to reduce the fine should be referred back to the Tribunal for review.
The CJEU, which typically follows most such recommendations, will rule in the coming months.
Air France-KLM’s fine was the highest at 182.9 million euros, followed by KLM with 127.1 million. Lufthansa, which avoided a fine after alerting the EU watchdog to the cartel, had also appealed the decision as it disagreed with the Commission’s legal arguments.
The EU watchdog said the cartel fixed air freight services, fuel and security surcharges from December 1999 to February 2006.
The other airlines that have appealed the EU fines are Air Canada, Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways (OTC:), Latam Airlines Group and its subsidiary Lan Cargo, and Cargolux.
The cases are C-367/22 P Air Canada v Commission, C-369/22 P Air France v Commission, C-370/22 P Air France-KLM v Commission, C-375/22 P LATAM Airlines (NYSE:) Group and Lan Cargo v Commission, C-378/22 P British Airways v Commission, C-379/22 P Singapore Airlines and Singapore Airlines Cargo v Commission, C-380/22 P Deutsche Lufthansa (ETR:) and Others v Commission, C -381/22 P Japan Airlines v Commission, C-382/22 P Cathay Pacific Airways v Commission, C-385/22 P Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij v Commission, C-386/22 P Martinair Holland v Commission, C-401/22 P Cargolux Airlines v Commission and C-403/22 P SAS Cargo Group and Others v Commission.
