EU court upholds BA antitrust ruling

The European Union’s Court of Justice today upheld a £4.7m (€6.9m) fine levied against British Airways by EU antitrust regulators for using a system that locked travel agents into selling more of its tickets at the expense of its rivals.

The EU’s high court rejected an appeal by the carrier saying it was “in part inadmissible and in part unfounded”.

In Luxembourg, it said the lower EU Court of First Instance ruling in 2003 “did not make any error of law”. In December 2003, the EU court found BA guilty of abusing its dominant position in the market for air-travel services.

It said BA’s system of paying British travel agents a basic commission for selling BA tickets plus a performance bonus based on the growth of annual BA ticket sales was unfair, because it locked travel agents into selling more BA tickets at the expense of other airlines.

British Airways had appealed against a 1999 antitrust fine issued by the European Commission at the EU courts over its marketing practices.

Virgin Atlantic Airways had complained to EU regulators about the selling practices of its main rival.