TOKYO - Struggling Japan Airlines Corp (JAL) will book a roughly 20 billion yen ($171 million) charge for potential fines from a global price fixing probe by US and EU officials, the Asahi Shimbun daily reported on Saturday.
British Airways and Korean Air have agreed to plead guilty to fixing passenger and cargo flight fares and would each pay $300 million in fines, the U.S Justice Department said on Wednesday.
UK authorities also said on Wednesday that BA agreed to pay a separate 121.5 million pound ($248.2 million) fine for discussing fuel surcharges with rival Virgin Atlantic Airways.
JAL, which posted its second straight annual loss in the year ended March, has been cutting staff and unprofitable routes. It has said it would return to the black this year, with a group net profit of 7 billion yen in 07/08.
The restructuring airline - Asia’s biggest by revenue - will book the charge in its first-half earnings, to be announced on Nov. 6, the Asahi said.
JAL posted a net loss of 16.27 billion yen in the year to March 2007.
JAL said in a statement that it was cooperating with the authorities and had made no decision about the probe’s impact on its mid-year earnings report.