EU regulators set to fine Air France-KLM, other airlines - sources

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, March 8 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators are set to hand down hefty fines to Air France-KLM (LSE: 0LN7.L - news) , British Airways and other carriers, more than a year after an EU court rejected a 2010 sanction totalling almost 800 million euros ($843 million), two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The Luxembourg-based General Court, Europe's second highest, said the European Commission's 2010 decision on 11 air cargo carriers contained contradictions.

Air Canada (Other OTC: AIDIF - news) , Martinair, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific Airways, Japan Airlines, LAN Chile, SAS and Singapore Airlines challenged the 2010 decision in court, while Qantas did not.

Lufthansa (Xetra: LHAB.DE - news) alerted the cartel to the Commission, staving off a fine.

The EU competition enforcer attempted to settle the case with the airlines earlier this month but failed to reach a deal as the companies could not agree on a single set of conditions, the people said.

Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso declined to comment.

Air France (Paris: FR0000031122 - news) received the biggest fine in 2010 at 182.9 million euros while KLM (Shanghai: 600686.SS - news) 's came to 127.2 million euros. They merged in 2004. British Airways took a 104 million euro hit.

The Commission's 2010 decision triggered a series of damages claims against the airlines from companies such as Germany's Deutsche Bahn, carmaker BMW (EUREX: BMWE.EX - news) and car supplier Bosch (BSE: BOSCHLTD.BO - news) .

($1 = 0.9490 euros) (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Mark Potter)