BRITISH Airways may face years of difficulty following a raid on its headquarters by the Office of Fair Trading.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh insisted it was business as usual in a memo to staff on Monday. But two senior executives have been sent on leave as the airline faces a series of inquiries.
Alleged price fixing among airlines has led to OFT conducting civil and criminal probes – looking at fuel surcharges on long-haul flights to and from the UK.
The US Department of Justice is also investigating, following a FBI raid on BA’s New York office.
BA and Virgin Atlantic have also been named in a class-action lawsuit in New York alleging a conspiracy to fix prices.
And BA and other airlines remain the subject of a probe launched in February by the US DoJ, European Commission and anti-trust bodies in Asia into fuel surcharges on cargo flights.
BA has refused to say more since its short statement last Thursday that it was under investigation and that commercial director Martin George and head of communications Iain Burns had gone on leave.
It’s understood the raid on BA on June 13 followed information from Virgin Atlantic, although Virgin would not comment other than to say it was assisting inquiries.
Investigations so far have focused on the four airlines with exclusive rights to fly between Heathrow and the US – BA, its alliance partner American Airlines, Virgin and United Airlines.
The US airlines said they were co-operating but were not targets of the inquiry.
The OFT can fine BA up to 10% of its turnover, a penalty that could amount to £850 million, and seek jail terms of up to five years for individuals.
However, it has not carried out an inquiry of this type before. The OFT said: “No assumption should be made that there has been an infringement of competition law.”
See more news and features on aviation