(CNN) -- The European Commission Tuesday fined 11 air-cargo carriers for price-fixing, a statement from the commission said.
The carriers have been fined a total of 799 million euros, or $1.1 billion, for operating a worldwide cartel which affected cargo services within the European Economic area.
The carriers are Air Canada, Air France-KLM, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Cargolux, Japan Airlines, LAN Chile, Martinair, SAS, Singapore Airlines and Qantas.
"It is deplorable that so many major airlines coordinated their pricing to the detriment of European businesses and European consumers," said Joaquin Almunia, EC vice president for competition, in the statement. He said the decision "is sending a clear message that it will not tolerate cartel behavior".
The commission said "the carriers coordinated their actions on surcharges for fuel and security without discounts over a six-year period".
"The cartel members coordinated various elements of price" from December 1999 to February 2006, the commission statement said.
"The cartel arrangements consisted of numerous contacts between airlines, at both bilateral and multilateral level, covering flights from, to and within the EEA. Airlines providing airfreight services primarily offer the transport of cargo to freight forwarders, who arrange the carriage of these goods including associated services and formalities on behalf of shippers," the commission said.
The commission said Lufthansa and its subsidiary, Swiss, got full immunity because it was the first to pass along information about the cartel.
CNN
