MAS says EC drops anti-competition probe
National carrier Malaysia Airlines said Thursday the European Commission had terminated proceedings against it and its cargo unit for "anti-competitive behaviour".
The announcement comes after Europe's competition watchdog Tuesday slapped a fine totalling almost 800 million euros (1.1 billion US dollars) on the 11 airlines after finding they had coordinated pricing on their cargo business.
National carrier Malaysia Airlines said Thursday the European Commission had terminated proceedings against it and its cargo unit for "anti-competitive behaviour".
The announcement comes after Europe's competition watchdog Tuesday slapped a fine totalling almost 800 million euros (1.1 billion US dollars) on the 11 airlines after finding they had coordinated pricing on their cargo business.
The carrier said in 2007 that it was served with a "statement of objections" by the Commission for alleged anti-competitive practices in air freight.
"The European Commission has terminated proceedings against MAS and MASkargo in relation to its air freight investigation under Article 101 of the EU Treaty," the airline said in a statement.
"Neither MAS nor MASkargo has been found to have infringed European competition laws," it added.
"As a result, neither MAS nor MASkargo has been fined by the European Commission. The European Commission has imposed substantial fines totalling 799 million euros on many other airlines."
The European watchdog called the deal by the airlines - including Air France-KLM, British Airways and Japan Airlines - "deplorable" and "to the detriment of European businesses and European consumers".
It said the companies coordinated their action on surcharges for fuel and security without discounts over a six-year period, between December 1999 and February 2006.
- AFP
