Four cargo airlines that have not settled in the long-running air cargo antitrust case will have their day in court. The four holdouts – Air China Ltd./Air China Cargo Co. Ltd.; Air India Ltd.; Air New Zealand Ltd.; and Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, Inc./Polar Air Cargo, LLC/Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. – will meet in a New York courtroom, Jan. 25, 2016, after Eastern District Court Judge John Gleeson determined that there is a case against them.
So far, more than US$1 billion has been paid to plaintiffs by 27 defendants, who chose to settle. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the cargo carriers are seeking to recover billions of dollars in damages allegedly caused by price-fixing global surcharges from 1999 to 2006.
The remaining airline defendants contended that there was no evidence of their participation in a conspiracy, and that their actions, in some cases, were requested by foreign governments. They argued that in Japan, New Zealand, China and Hong Kong, an agreement on surcharges was permitted.
Atlas Air Worldwide tried to distance itself from charges leveled at Polar Air Cargo, its subsidiary, saying it was merely a holding company, but the court disagreed. The plaintiffs said the evidence showed otherwise and that Atlas Air Worldwide dominated and controlled Polar Air Cargo, even micromanaging its operations.
The ruling is widely considered a major blow for the airlines, which have spent considerable time and money to have the case dropped, while the other carriers paid their compensation. An attorney for the plaintiffs said the judge’s ruling, “was a major milestone for the victims of this massive price-fixing conspiracy.”