El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. became the 16th airline to settle a class-action suit filed against it in February 2007, in the US.
El Al will pay the plaintiffs a total of US$15.8 million. According to a statement from plaintiffs' lawyers Hausfeld LLP, price fixing occurred between 2000 and 2006.
A dozen more airlines remain defendants in the case that is being tried in US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
The lawsuit was filed by international freight forwarders who purchased cargo services and claimed they had been harmed by paying inflated freight rates for air transportation because of collusion by air carriers on surcharges, the elimination or prevention of discounts and commissions.
The plaintiffs alleged that the airlines acted in violation of the antitrust laws and other laws in Europe and the US. The parties signed a settlement last week, whereby El Al will pay to the plaintiffs a total of US$15.8 million, in six installments.
The first payment, of US$9.8 million, to be paid within 30 days of the signing of the settlement. The balance of US$6 million will be paid in five equal installments of US$1.2 million by the end of 2016.
According to the company the parties agreed that the settlement shall not be construed as an admission by El Al of the claims against it or as evidence of their correctness. The three largest European airlines: British Airways, Air France/KLM/Martinair and Lufthansa have already settled the legal claim and paid the largest restitution, US$89 million. To date, according to the press, more than US$1.8 billion in fines have been imposed.
