US – WORLDWIDE – And then there was none. Air India, the last defendant remaining among nearly three dozen air cargo carriers prosecuted in 2006 over a global conspiracy to artificially inflate the price of air freight services, has entered into a settlement agreement of $12.5 million, bringing the decade-long antitrust litigation to a conclusion. Just the plaintiffs’ cumulative recoveries alone in the multidistrict antitrust class action against air freight carriers now surpass $1.2 billion.

Earlier this month the last but one of the carriers perceived as guilty, Air New Zealand, settled by agreeing a $35 million payment after many of the world’s largest airlines were named in the civil class action lawsuit, which was scheduled for trial later this year in September in New York Federal Court. The lawsuit began in February 2006, following raids by government investigators worldwide.

Criminal prosecutions by the US government resulted in over $1.8 billion in fines, but no restitution for customers. Instead, compensation for the customers overcharged by the price-fixing conspiracy came from the settlements achieved in this civil litigation. The earliest settlements represented in the range of 2% of sales and the final settlement accounted for more than 10% of sales.

In Re Air Cargo Shipping Services Antitrust Litigation, 06-MD-1775 (JG) (VVP).