The Office of Fair Trading has charged four serving and former British Airways executives with offences under the Enterprise Act, including current head of sales Andrew Crawley.
The charges follow the OFT’s criminal investigation into the price-fixing of fuel surcharges on long-haul flights. The OFT fined BA £121.5 million last year after airline bosses admitted collusion with Virgin Atlantic in setting fuel surcharges between 2004 and 2006.
Former BA commercial director and board member Martin George, former head of communications Iain Burns and former head of UK and Ireland sales Alan Burnett have also been charged.
The four are charged with “having dishonestly agreed with others to make or implement arrangements which directly or indirectly fixed the price for the supply in the UK of passenger air transport services by British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways”.
They will appear at City of London Magistrates’ Court on September 24.
Lawyers acting on behalf of Iain Burns issued a statement saying: “At the time of these events Iain Burns was the head of PR at BA with no responsibility for pricing decisions. Given his high level of cooperation with the OFT, Iain is disappointed with the decision. However, he hopes it will provide him with the opportunity to clear his name.”