ASSOVIAGGI/ALITALIA
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
Alitalia has been fined euro 2 million for its relations with travel agencies: continued abuse of dominant position
On 18 July 2002 the Competition Authority resolved to impose a euro 2 million fine on Linee Aeree Italiane - Alitalia S.p.A. for failure to comply with the previous resolution of the Authority of 27 June 2001, and ordered Alitalia to immediately refrain from any further anti-competitive behaviour in its contractual relations with travel agencies. The company has 90 days within which to submit a report on the measures it has adopted to remove these offences.
The case began with an earlier measure adopted by the Authority on 27 June 2001, resolving that the provision by Alitalia of incentives that were likely to restrict access to the passenger air transport market by competing airlines and to secure the loyalty of travel agencies by discriminating between those agencies, was a serious offence under art. 82 of the EC Treaty.
On 24 May 2002, the Lazio Regional Tribumal, while overruling the fined imposed on Alitalia, confirmed that its conduct had been an abuse of a dominant position.
Since Alitalia had failed to comply with its order, which had been confirmed by the Regional Tribunal, the Authority found that by it had failed to introduce any changes to the offending loyalty schemes to remove the offences by the deadline set by the 27 June 2001 measure, or subsequently, but had continued to calculate commissions due to the agencies by reference to their past sales, thereby retaining essentially unchanged the effect of binding them to Alitalia.
Despite the serious nature of this conduct, which was also a failure to comply with a previous measure regarding an offence committed earlier, the Authority imposed a fine of euro 2 million on Alitalia to take account of both the crisis in the airline industry as a result of the well-known events of 11 September 2001 and of Alitalia's heavy losses over the past 12 months.
Rome, 26 July 2002