Australia's competition watchdog on Tuesday accused Malaysia Airlines over alleged price-fixing in the air cargo industry, drawing it into a campaign which has already seen top carriers fined millions.

malaysia airlines hong kong airport maintenance woes The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it had begun legal proceedings on Friday against Malaysian Airline System Berhad and its wholly owned cargo subsidiary Malaysia Airlines Cargo Sdn Bhd.

"Malaysian Airline System Berhad is the 13th airline to be the subject of ACCC proceedings for alleged price fixing in the air cargo industry," the commission said in a statement.

The ACCC says that between 2001 and 2006, the Malaysian airline colluded with other international carriers to effectively fix the price of a fuel surcharge and a security surcharge applied to air cargo.

It alleges that arrangements were made in Indonesia and Hong Kong for fuel surcharges applied to cargo originating in those countries, and similar understandings were agreed on security surcharges.

The ACCC has accused several airlines of fuel surcharge price-fixing, winning fines of 20 million Australian dollars (RM60 million) from Qantas and five million Australian dollars (RM15 million) from British Airways.

Air France and KLM - which have now merged - Martinair and Cargolux were ordered to pay a total of 21 million Australian dollars (RM62.7 million) in separate proceedings.

The ACCC, which has also begun legal action against Singapore Airlines Cargo, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, PT Garuda Indonesia, Thai Airways and Korean Air Lines, said it was continuing to investigate other airlines.

The case against Malaysia Airlines, from which the ACCC is seeking declarations, financial penalties and costs, is set for a directions hearing on April 22 in the Federal Court in Sydney.

- AFP