Qantas has entered a plea agreement with the US Government over illegal price-fixing within its freight division.

Qantas, the long-distance Australian-based airline, has entered a plea agreement with the US Government, agreeing to pay a fine of US$61 million for illegal price-fixing within its freight division.

The price-fixing occurred between 2000 and 2006 and involved fuel surcharges within the air cargo market – related solely to Qantas’ Freight Division, and not its passenger business.

Geoff Dixon, Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, said: “Qantas takes its obligations to comply with the law very seriously. We have a comprehensive competition compliance program in place, and expect all of our employees to comply with these requirements at all times.

“In this case, Qantas did not meet this expectation. The conduct was wrong and we apologise unreservedly for this.”

The investigation by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is expected to take two years to complete – with four past and two current Qantas employees being investigated further in connection with the conduct.

Mr Dixon also stated that similar such investigations were being carried out by anti-trust regulators in other countries: “We understand more than 30 other airlines are included in these investigations,” he added.

Qantas had made provision for the fine in its 2006/7 financial statements and does not believe its future operating results will be affected any further.