British Airways fined for price collusion

British Airways has been fined £121.5m (€180m) for collusion over fuel surcharges on long-haul flights, the Office of Fair Trading said today.

BA said it was expecting a further fine from the US Department of Justice to be announced today which could take the total to £350m (€518m).

The penalty from the OFT is the highest ever imposed by the regulator for infringements of competition law.

BA said it admitted that between August 2004 and January 2006 it colluded with Virgin Atlantic over the surcharges, which were added to ticket prices in response to rising oil prices.

Over that period, the surcharges rose from £5 (€7) to £60 (€89) per ticket for a typical BA or Virgin Atlantic long-haul return flight. Virgin Atlantic is not expected to pay any penalty.

The OFT and the DoJ have been investigating allegations of price-fixing on long-haul fuel surcharges since June last year.