BA to pay $89.5 million in air cargo price-fixing suit

NEW YORK (Reuters) - British Airways Plc said on Tuesday it will pay $89.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing it and more than two dozen other airlines of conspiring to fix the price of air-cargo freight shipping.

Plaintiffs in the same litigation have also reached a $66 million settlement with Lan Airlines SA, LAN Cargo SA and Aerolinhas Brasileiras SA, all South American airlines.

The settlement offers are still subject to approval in the Brooklyn federal court where the lawsuits have been consolidated. No date has been set yet for the fairness hearing before U.S. District Judge John Gleeson.

British Airways formed the International Airlines Group when it merged with Spain's Iberia last year.

In 2006, more than 90 civil lawsuits were filed against more than two dozen airlines accusing them of conspiring to raise air-cargo freight rates. In all, 42 airlines have been named in the suits.

So far, 13 airlines have reached similar civil settlements with the class-action plaintiffs, agreeing to pay a total of $367.9 million to direct purchasers of air-cargo services. Five of those settlements have been approved; the others are still awaiting the court's approval.

The civil complaints originated from a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into a number of airlines suspected of violating antitrust rules with the air-transportation industry. So far, 20 airlines have reached plea agreements with the DOJ, worth more than $1.7 billion.

The case is In re: Air Cargo Shipping Services Antitrust Litigation, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, no. 06-1775.

(Reporting by Jessica Dye; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)