South African Airways (SAA) has 30 days to pay a R45-million fine for contravening the Competition Act.
This after the airline on Monday withdrew an appeal against a July 28 Competition Commission ruling that it had abused its dominant position in the domestic airline market.
The commission then withdrew its cross-appeal, said commission 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 carrier’s position.
The case followed a complaint lodged by Nationwide Airlines in 2001.
The airline said it withdrew the appeal to avoid incurring further legal costs.
”SAA seeks to avoid the inconvenience and cost of protracted litigation. As we focus on turning the airline around and on meeting the challenges of growing our business, it is important that the airline is not encumbered by this legacy,” Louisa Zondo, a lawyer for SAA, said in a statement. – Sapa