A handful of cargo airlines are to face trial in January after failing to convince a New York court to end a class action lawsuit against them.
Air New Zealand, Air China and Air China Cargo, Air India and Polar Air Cargo and its parent Atlas Air Worldwide failed in an application to end a claim that they colluded to fix prices on international air freight services.
After a session on 31 August in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Judge John Gleeson set a final pre-trial hearing for January 8, 2016, with jury selection and the trial to start on January 25.
The claim was filed in 2006 on behalf of six freight forwarders and has been led by global litigation firm Hausfeld.
The law firm has reached settlements worth almost $US1.04bn with 27 airlines, including Qantas Airways, which paid US$26.5m. The biggest settlement was US$115m with Korean Air.
The plaintiffs estimate damages at about US$2.66bn, which would treble to as much as US$7.98bn under US antitrust laws.
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