A global investigation into possible price-fixing in the air cargo industry widened to Asia today as Japan Airlines and two South Korean airlines said authorities had searched their offices.
The EU competition watchdog and the US Justice Department conducted searches of some leading airlines' cargo operations in Europe and around the United States yesterday, and other airlines were asked for information related to the probe.
"The Commission has reason to believe that the companies concerned may have violated (a European Union) treaty, which prohibits practices such as price fixing," the European Commission said in a statement. It declined to name the targets.
A JAL spokesman said European authorities had searched the Frankfurt offices of its cargo operations.
He declined to comment on alleged cartel activity but added: "We are fully cooperating with the probe."
Two South Korean airlines, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, said they were raided by the local antitrust watchdog.
"Officials from the Fair Trade Commission came to our cargo business office here, but our offices in Europe and the US were not raided," Korean Air spokesman Lee Hyoung-woo said.
The company is the world's top cargo carrier, based on 2004 data.
An Asiana official, who declined to be named, said the FTC searched its sales offices in Seoul as part of an investigation into fuel surcharges. The official said he thought the raid was related to the probes in Europe and the United States.
British Airways, Air France KLM, and freight airline Cargolux had said they were asked for information related to alleged cartel activity. SAS also said it had been raided.
The world's two biggest airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines, both had said they received inquiries as part of the probe.