Cartel busters raided some of Europe's leading airlines on Tuesday in a transatlantic probe into suspected price fixing for cargo, Reuters reported. The European Union's executive arm and the U.S. Justice Department said they were investigating air cargo firms suspected of anti-competitive activity. The European Commission said it had conducted raids but declined to name the targets. British Airways Plc, Air France KLM and freight airline Cargolux said they had been asked for information related to alleged cartel activity. Scandinavian airline SAS said it had been raided. German carrier Lufthansa confirmed an investigation was taking place in the air cargo industry and it would cooperate with the authorities. "The Commission has reason to believe that the companies concerned may have violated (a European Union) treaty, which prohibits practices such as price fixing," the EU executive said in a statement. In Washington, Gina Talamona, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Justice Department, said: "The antitrust division is investigating the possibility of anti-competitive practices in the air cargo industry. --More 21 32 Local Time 18 32 GMT
