WEKO said that the airlines included United Continental (>> United Continental Holdings Inc), AMR Corporation (>> American Airlines Group Inc), Singapore Airlines (>> Singapore Airlines Ltd.), Japan Airlines (>> Japan Airlines Co Ltd), British Airways (>> International Consolidated Airlines Grp), Air France (>> AIR FRANCE-KLM) and Cathay Pacific Airways (>> Cathay Pacific Airways Limited).

The airlines agreed on freight rates, fuel surcharges, war-risk surcharges, customs clearance surcharges for the United States and the commissioning of surcharges, which together contribute to the price of air freight transport, between 2000 and 2005, WEKO said.

The watchdog said that Lufthansa (>> Deutsche Lufthansa AG) escaped a fine because it had reported the practice to the competition body. ($1 = 0.9092 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Alice Baghdjian; Editing by David Goodman)