Flight Centre wins appeal in ACCC airfare price fixing case.
The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has this morning overturned the judgement handed down against Flight Centre in December 2013, in relation to alleged breaches of the Trade Practices Act 1974.
In the case the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had claimed Flight Centre had attempted to collude with a number of airlines to control the prices of airfares on six occasions between 2005 and 2009, with the initial judgement seeing a whopping $11 million fine levied against the company.
Flight Centre had strenuously denied the claims, with md Graham Turner saying “we welcome today’s judgement and hope that it now brings this six-year saga to an end.
“As we said when the ACCC initiated this test case, for more than 30 years Flight Centre has sought to deliver cheaper airfares to the travelling public. The company is not in the business of attempting to make airfares more expensive,” he said.
Today’s comprehensive legal victory for Flight Centre has also seen the ACCC ordered to pay the company’s legal costs for both the initial case and for the subsequent appeal – and for the $11 million fine to be repaid with interest.
More details in today’s issue of Travel Daily.