AirBaltic owes 158,354 lats for violating the Competition Law

RIGA(LETA) - The Competition Council yesterday decided on a fine of
LVL 158,354 for joint-stock company airBaltic for making a pact with
Transaero Airlines to avoid competition, said Peteris Vilks, chairman
of the council.

Vilks said the fine equals 0.7 percent of airBaltic's turnover in
1998. When adopting the decision, the Competition Council took into
account several factors - the gravity of the violation, duration, and
others, said Vilks.

AirBaltic has to transfer the sum to the state budget by April 1. The
council put off reviewing the case of airBaltic and the Russian
Transaero Airlines on Dec. 22. Vilks said then that the commission
could not agree on what fine should be imposed on "airBaltic".

The Competition Council established on June 16 this year that the
interline agreement signed by airBaltic and Transaero Airlines on
Aug.1 1998 was aimed at limiting the competition on the international
passenger flights market, thus violating Article 15 of the
Competition Law.

According to another article of the Competition Law the council can
decide on fining "airBaltic" up to 5 percent of its annual turnover.

In the beginning of the year, Transaero Airlines obtained a 0.35
percent stake in airBaltic. Last year, Transaero Airlines broke the
cooperation with the airline Riair, and Riair halted its flights.