Air New Zealand general counsel John Blair says that the airline has never condoned anti-competitive conduct and has co-operated fully with the Commerce Commission throughout its investigation, providing hundreds of thousands of documents and making many current and former employees available for interview from around the world.
"Despite extensive reviews of our own files and interviews with key staff, Air New Zealand has not been able to identify any evidence of price-fixing or cartel behaviour. We have repeatedly asked the Commerce Commission to present us with any evidence to indicate that Air New Zealand has breached any laws. To date they have been either unwilling or unable to do so."
Blair remarked that the Commerce Commission's announcement that it will embark on proceedings against thirteen airlines, having failed to engage with Air New Zealand for almost three years, is clearly an approach designed to justify their existence, and seems more about grandstanding than about getting to the bottom of the allegations and facilitating a co-operative approach from the airlines.
Air New Zealand has invested several million dollars over the past three years, analysing more than a million documents and speaking to many current and former employees.
"The Commerce Commission's disdain for engagement has made this exercise many times more expensive than it needed to be," says Blair. "Whilst we have not had access to any of the documents or allegations of wrongdoing from the Commerce Commission, we expect to vigorously defend the proceedings, which we understand relate to four former and one current cargo division employee."
