Mexican regulators cite price-fixing in domestic flights

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s anti-monopoly commission says it has found evidence of price-fixing by airlines on domestic airplane tickets.

The federal Competition Commission said Sunday that various airlines are not competing on prices for domestic flights and “may have reached agreements with the aim or effect of manipulating base prices.”

The commission cited an investigation that ran from February 2015 and concluded in November. It did not mention how many or which airlines were involved. The companies will now be allowed to offer evidence before a ruling is made.

Such practices can result in fines of as much as 10 per cent of a company’s income in Mexico.

Mexico reserves domestic flights for Mexican carriers, but allows minority foreign ownership of them.