Qantas and six other international airlines were served with a A$200 million (US$155 million) class-action lawsuit yesterday alleging price-fixing in the global air freight industry, a lawyer said.
The lawsuit was lodged in the Federal Court of Australia in Melbourne on Jan. 11 and was served yesterday to Australian flagship carrier Qantas Airways Ltd, said Kim Parker, principal of the law firm Maurice Blackburn Cashman, which brought the case to court.
Qantas, the alleged major beneficiary from the price-fixing, declined to comment.
Other airlines named in the action -- Lufthansa AG, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, Air New Zealand, Japan Airlines and British Airways PLC -- were also served yesterday, she said.
The seven airlines allegedly have been part of a price-fixing cartel in the international freight industry since 2000, according to court papers.
The case focuses on surcharges the airlines imposed, including fuel surcharges attributed to higher fuel costs, security charges attributed to extra measures taken after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US and war-risk surcharges attributed to higher insurance costs linked to the Iraq war.
The action alleges that the surcharges were not representative of operational costs and were imposed in agreement between the airlines to artificially raise prices.
"Air freight surcharges have been unlawfully inflated over the last seven years," Parker said.
Parker said price-fixing and market-rigging by powerful organizations were the worst kinds of anticompetitive abuse and breached Australia's federal competition laws.
The seven airlines were named because they accounted for about 60 percent of the Australian air cargo market.
Qantas has a 22 percent share, Singapore 16 percent, Cathay 8 percent, New Zealand 6.5 percent, British and JAL both under 3 percent and Lufthansa almost 2 percent.
The suit is a first in Australia, although similar class-action lawsuits accusing airlines of colluding on cargo charges have been launched in the US and Canada.
The Australian law firm is working in conjunction with US class-action suit specialist firm Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, which reached a settlement with Lufthansa on the same issue in November. The Cologne-based airline agreed to pay US$85 million to settle pending class-action lawsuits in the US.
Parker said plaintiffs in the Australian suit could number in the thousands. Every business that spent more than A$20,000 on air freight charges since 2000 was part of the class-action, she said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source