CANBERRA – Garuda Indonesia has denied allegations by Australia’s consumer watchdog, the ACCC, that it has been involved in a price fixing scam.
The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission has launched legal action against Garuda Indonesia over claims it colluded with rivals to fix air freight costs.
A Garuda Indonesia spokesperson said Garuda would defend the claims made by the ACCC on the following grounds:
1. Garuda Indonesia has never imposed a fuel surcharge on cargo shipped from Australia and indeed has never charged shippers in Australia any form of fuel surcharge.
2. According to the ACCC’s media statement, the case relates to alleged events in Indonesia and Hong Kong, not Australia.
3. As such, it is difficult to see how these events could have affected the supply of services by Garuda Indonesia in Australia where there was no fuel surcharge.
4. Garuda Indonesia did impose a security surcharge on cargo carried from Australia, but did so without reference to any other airline and on an entirely different basis from most, if not all, other airlines.â€
The ACCC proceedings launched in the Federal Court yesterday makes Garuda the 10th airline be taken to court by Australia’s consumer watchdog.
The ACCC alleges that Garuda was one of several airlines which entered into agreements to fix the price of a fuel and security surcharge from 2001 to 2006.
To date, six airlines, including Qantas, have been ordered to pay $41 million in penalties over similar claims, while proceedings against Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Emirates are still before the court.
