Executives In Jail: Who's Next?

As if the people struggling to run airlines don't already have enough to worry about.

Now comes evidence that federal officials are really serious about putting airline executives in jail for conspiring to fix air-freight rates over the last few years.

Following news of a Qantas executive being shipped off to prison in May comes news of a second conviction today -- and prosecutors' pledge of more to come.

Timothy Pfeil, once the highest-ranking U.S. executive for SAS Cargo agreed to plead guilty and serve six months in jail for participating in a conspiracy to fix prices for air cargo rates, the Justice Department said.

Pfeil and other co-conspirators have been accused of fixing rates for air cargo shipments from January 2000 to February 2006. The rates included the base rate and surcharges for things like fuel and post-September 11 security.

Starting with British Airways last summer, several airlines have already settled charges that they participated in the conspiracy. In addition to BA, Japan Airlines, Korean Air Lines, and Pfeil's former employer, SAS, the Scandinavian airline, have all settled.

Thomas O. Barnett, the assistant attorney general in charge of the department's antitrust division, said the price-fixing conspiracy threatened "a critical part of the global economy." He added that he is "dedicated to aggressively pursuing all those who engage in criminal conduct that harms American consumers."

by Mark Stein