German airline fined for violating antitrust laws

BERLIN

Germany’s antitrust agency says it has fined a subsidiary of Thomas Cook AG euro1.2 million (1.6 million) for illegally coordinating prices of flights between Germany and Turkey.

The Federal Cartel Office said Tuesday airline Condor GmbH was fined for price coordination with its counterpart SunExpress in 2009 on routes simultaneously operated by the two companies.

It says the two airlines agreed SunExpress would not offer flights from Germany to Turkey for less than euro99, and tickets were meant not to be more than euro10 cheaper than Condor’s.

The office said the investigation was triggered by SunExpress, a joint venture of Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Turkish Airlines, which was not fined according to the agency’s leniency program.

Source: Business Week