Britain's consumer watchdog has fined British Airways £121.5m (€180m) and the US Depatment of Justice has added $300m (€218) to that bill for anti-competitive activity over ticket pricing.
The Office of Fair Trading in Britain said BA had admitted colluding with rival Virgin Atlantic over the setting of transatlantic passenger fuel surcharges from August 2004 to January 2006.
Virgin Atlantic was not penalised, having been granted whistleblower immunity by the UK competition authority.
This afternoon the US Department of Justice has said it has agreed to accept a guilty plea by BA and has fined the airline $300m (€218m).
BA's chief executive Willie Walsh insisted passengers had not been overcharged, but condemned anti-competitive conduct by a 'limited number of individuals' in the company.
He said fuel surcharges are a legitimate way of recovering costs, but that did not in any way excuse the anti-competitive conduct within British Airways.
