British Airways faces fines of up to £300 million sterling ($549 million) if found guilty of price-fixing in an investigation being undertaken by competition regulators in the United Kingdom and United States, analysts said this afternoon.
UK and US authorities said yesterday they had begun a civil and criminal investigation into an alleged cartel over air fares and fuel surcharges after raiding BA's offices. BA has put two senior executives on leave.
Virgin Atlantic was also involved in the investigation but would not say whether it was a target or not. American Airlines and United Airlines were also co-operating but said they were not direct targets.
Analysts said BA faced a maximum fine of 10 per cent of its annual transatlantic turnover, or about £315 million. If the case involved the airline's total operations, that could increase to £900 million.
But that could be the least of its problems if fallout from the inquiry leads to a dismantling of current arrangements on routes between London's Heathrow airport and the United States.
BA, Virgin, American Airlines and United are the only four airlines allowed to fly direct between Heathrow Airport and the United States.
Some analysts said the investigation could be the catalyst which forces BA to open up Heathrow to additional transatlantic carriers, an issue rival airlines have been pushing for some time.