COMPANIES
SAA to pay R45m fine
Posted Tue, 06 Dec 2005
South African Airways (SAA) has 30 days to pay a R45-million fine for contravening the Competition Act.
This, after withdrawing an appeal against a Competition Commission ruling on July 28 that it had abused its dominant position in the domestic airline market.
The commission had since withdrawn its cross-appeal, said spokesperson Liziwe Konyana.
"The withdrawal of the appeal and cross-appeal effectively means that the Competition Tribunal's order in this matter stands and that SAA will be required to pay the R45-million penalty imposed by the Competition Tribunal," she said.
The fine — the largest in the history of the Competition Act —
was imposed on the national carrier after the tribunal found it had broken the law by operating incentive schemes for travel agents which were in breach of the Competition Act.
It found that the Explorer scheme — a system of rewarding travel agency staff with SAA tickets on the basis of
the number of SAA tickets they sold — helped reinforce the exclusionary effects of the override scheme.
The case followed a complaint lodged by Nationwide Airlines in 2001.
SAA spokesperson Onkgopotse Tabane could not be reached for
comment.
Sapa
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