Class Action Adds to BA's TurbulenceThe Express; David Shands, Market Editor; June 26, 2006 British Airways was braced for more turbulence this week after a potentially damaging class-action lawsuit in the US added to the pressure on the beleaguered airline from a transatlantic probe into alleged price-fixing. Legal action was also launched against BA rival Virgin Atlantic amid suggestions the net could widen into the alleged conspiracy. Virgin has said it is not a target of the investigation, which BA announced last week was being carried out by the UK's Office of Fair Trading and US Department of Justice into alleged cartel activity including in relation to fuel surcharges. BA's decision to give leave of absence to commercial director Martin George and head of communications Iain Burns, before the investigation gets into full swing, has raised concerns of possible scapegoating. The lawsuit filed by the class-action firm Cohen, Milstein, Hausfield & Toll claimed that BA, Virgin and other unnamed airlines operated a "global conspiracy to fix, raise, maintain and/or stabilise prices for longhaul passenger flights to and from the UK". It claimed the UK rivals' introduction of surcharges was "concerted" and that they worked as a "cartel", with increases progressing in a "lockstep pattern".... |
