British Airways has been fined £121.5 million (€180 million) for fuel surcharge price-fixing and expected the US authorities to announce an additional fine later in the day.
Europe's third-largest airline said the combined fines would be "consistent" with a £350 million provision it has taken to cover possible fines stemming from separate passenger and cargo fuel surcharge probes involving authorities in the UK, United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.
BA said the Office of Fair Trading had ordered it to pay the fine after it admitted in May it had colluded with rival Virgin Atlantic Airways to fix passenger fuel surcharges on longhaul flights from August 2004 to January 2006.
The US Department of Justice will announce its penalties later today.
Virgin will not be fined after it turned whistleblower.
Fuel surcharges soared from £5 to £60 per ticket on typical BA or Virgin long return flights during the period.
BA said although it has agreed a settlement with both the OFT and the US Department of Justice each would continue with criminal investigations into the conduct of individuals involved in the affair.
Two senior BA executives quit last October after being linked to the investigation into the alleged fixing of fuel surcharges.
Shares in BA were down 3 per cent at 385.5 pence by 8:59 a.m. when the FTSE 100 index was down 2.1 per cent.