Australia’s largest travel agency, Flight Centre, has been fined $12.5 million for attempting to induce three international airlines to enter into price fixing between 2005 and 2009.
The Full Federal Court penalty imposed today is an increase from the original $11 million ordered by a judge in March 2014. The case has been heard in three courts since 2012.
Both the consumer watchdog ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) and Flight Centre appealed those orders.
Flight Centre was accused of trying to have airlines agree not to offer airfares on their own websites that were less than those offered by Flight Centre.
“The ACCC appealed from the initial $11 million penalty orders because it considered that this level of penalty was inadequate to achieve a strong deterrence message for Flight Centre and other businesses,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.
“Flight Centre is Australia’s largest travel agency, with $2.6 billion in annual revenue,” Mr Sims said.
Full Content: ABC News
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