Airlines Penalized For Imposing Fuel Surcharge Through Concerted Action

• Competition Commission of India penalizes airlines for engaging in concerted action to impose fuel surcharge on air cargo transport
• CCI draws adverse inference against airlines for its failure to submit documents relating to costing studies
• CCI acknowledges freedom of parties to fix price based on competition; however, in the absence of corroborating information, an inference may be drawn on collusion
• CCI reiterates well settled principle of law that there is rarely direct evidence of concerted action and presence of cartels must be determined on the basis of preponderance of probabilities

BACKGROUND

The Competition Commission of India ("CCI"/"Commission") recently imposed a penalty of INR 2.58 billion on three airline companies for causing an appreciable adverse effect on competition in the air cargo industry.¹ The Commission held that Jet Airways (India) Limited ("Jet Airways") and InterGlobe Aviation Limited, the parent company of