Qantas has pleaded guilty to taking part in an air cargo price-fixing conspiracy.

Qantas Airways has been fined $155,000 (US$133,000, £83,000) by Canada’s Competition Bureau after pleading guilty to participating in an air cargo price-fixing alliance out of Canada between May 2002 and February 2006.

During this period, Qantas Freight – the specialised international air freight division of the airline – trucked cargo from Canada to the US for onward shipment to countries such as Australia.

This follows the news from 26 June that KLM, Air France and Holland’s Martinair also pleaded guilty to fixing cargo surcharges for shipments on certain routes from Canada – imposing surcharges totalling $31.5 million between April 2002 and February 2006. They were fined $10m between them.

Melanie L. Aitken, Interim Commissioner of Competition, said: “Prohibiting conspiracies is at the core of competition enforcement and is the Bureau’s top priority. Conspiracies to fix prices are serious criminal offences that harm everyone but the perpetrators who cheat the system.”

The investigation into air cargo price-fixing began when the Bureau received a confidential immunity application. The Bureau’s Immunity Programme states that under this application, “the first party to disclose to the Bureau an offence not yet detected, or to provide evidence leading to the filing of charges, may receive immunity from the Director of Public Prosecutions, provided the party fully cooperates with the Bureau.”

Those who approach the Bureau in the early stages of investigation may receive a more lenient punishment, such as reduced penalties.

The Bureau is continuing its investigation into other air carriers.