Singapore Airlines Cargo (SQC, Singapore Changi)
has reached a settlement with plaintiffs in a class action case brought
against it in the United States. Under the terms of the settlement, the
Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi)
subsidiary will pay USD62.8million and make a corresponding provision
in its financial statements. However, the airline says it hasn't
admitted any guilt with the settlement resolving any liability for the
company from the air cargo class action in the U.S. The case is not
limited to the Singaporeans alone. The case claims that between January
of 2000 and February of 2006, major international cargo airlines
allegedly conspired to inflate the price of shipping goods by air.
Following raids by law enforcement agencies around the world on February
14, 2006, class action lawsuits were filed in the United States seeking
to recover the damages inflicted. The consolidated action, which is now
pending in the Eastern District of New York, seeks damages for
overcharges incurred with respect to air cargo shipments to, from and
within the United States. The class has reached settlements totalling
nearly half a billion dollars. Twenty of the defendants in the case
have been named as (with their settlements included): Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int'l) (USD85million); Air France (AF, Paris CDG)/KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam)/Martinair (MP, Amsterdam) (USD87million); American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth)(USD5million); JAL - Japan Airlines (JL, Tokyo Haneda) (USD12million); SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup) (USD13.93million); ANA - All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda) (USD10.4million); Cargolux (CV, Luxembourg) (USD35.1million); Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingford Smith) (USD26.5million); Thai Airways International (TG, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) (USD3.5million); British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) (USD89.5million); LAN Airlines (LA, Santiago de Chile Int'l) (USD66million); Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur Int'l) (USD3.2million); South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) (USD3.29million); Saudia (SV, Jeddah) (USD14million); Emirates (EK, Dubai Int'l) (USD7.833million); El Al Israel Airlines (LY, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion) (USD15.8million) and Air Canada (AC, Montréal Trudeau) (USD7.5million).