Air New Zealand Responds To Class Action

Media advisory
2 February 2007

Air New Zealand Responds To Class Action

Air New Zealand is surprised at being named in a class action announced in Australia yesterday based on accusations of price fixing in the air cargo market.

General Counsel John Blair says the action appears to be yet another attempt by an opportunistic law firm to target large, high-profile corporates.

“There is a growing trend internationally where legal firms are targeting multi-national companies with class actions on issues of little, if any substance usually in the expectation of substantial contingency fees. These opportunists expect companies to take the easy route of making an out-of-court settlement rather than incurring the expense and time of legal wrangles over many years,” Mr Blair says.

“This action has all the hallmarks of similar class actions that Air New Zealand has been subject to in the past including in the USA - complete with a blatant attempt to sensationalise it by sending out media releases and holding press conferences well in advance of the named parties being served with proceedings.

“We have now received the papers and will examine the issues. However, we are already well aware of the allegations which stem from an almost industry wide regulatory investigation of air cargo in a number of jurisdictions. In responding to requests for information from various regulators we have yet to see anything which causes us to conclude that Air New Zealand has breached applicable competition laws.”

ENDS