WASHINGTON – Virgin Atlantic, which received conditional amnesty from the Justice Dept. for its role in fixing prices with British Airways on passenger fuel surcharges, is resisting one of the requirements for that leniency: making restitution to the crime’s victims.
Last week BA was fined a record £270m after admitting it had engaged in anti-competitive behaviour by fixing with its competitors the price of fuel surcharges for long-haul flights and cargo.
The carrier was fined £121.5 million (US$246 million) by the Office of Fair Trading in Britain, and US$300 million by the US Justice Dept after parallel trans-Atlantic investigations.
Travel Weekly reports that the DOJ’s corporate leniency policy applies to companies that come forward to report illegal activity, as Virgin Atlantic did in this case after its legal department learned what some of the carrier’s employees were doing.
But another one of the six conditions a company is required to meet for DOJ leniency is also this: “Where possible, the corporation makes restitution to injured parties.”
The DOJ also noted that condition in its press release and press briefing, regarding Virgin Atlantic and also Lufthansa, which received leniency for coming forward to report illegal activity in the cargo price-fixing portion of the case.
“Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa are obligated to pay restitution to the U.S. victims of their conspiracies,” the DOJ said. They reiterated it in the briefing, and noted Lufthansa reached a US $85 million legal settlement last year with U.S. plaintiffs. The settlement still is awaiting court approval.
But Virgin Atlantic spokesman Paul Charles told Travel Weekly that Virgin Atlantic, while apologetic for its role, has no intention to pay restitution.
“You pay restitution where you believe there is restitution to be paid, and we don’t believe there is,” he said. “Our belief is that no passengers were overcharged, and no one has paid a higher total ticket price as a result of these activities.”
