Thai Airays protests innocence

"As the Thai national carrier, THAI has never broken any rule in any country," said Niruj Maneepun, vice president for legal and compliance.

The issue is now the responsibility of a law firm in Australia, he said.

The court hearing on the Australian authority's charges has been set for November 29.

THAI is currently undergoing a trial on a price-fixing charge in New Zealand.

It also faces a civil lawsuit in the US by a group of individual passengers, as well as a charge by the European Commission that the airline implemented various special surcharges in lieu of fuel, security and war-risk surcharges, in air cargo shipment charges.

It was reported from Sydney that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleges THAI colluded with other international airlines between 2001 and 2006 to effectively peg the price of fuel and security surcharges.

"The ACCC alleges that the arrangements or understandings were reached in Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong - plus Thailand in the case of a security surcharge called a crisis surcharge - for surcharges applied to cargo originating in those countries," it said in a statement.

THAI is the 11th carrier to be pursued by the ACCC in federal court over the alleged cartel activity, which has so far resulted in airlines being ordered to pay 41 million Australian dollars (Bt1.3 billion) in penalties.

Last December, Australia's Qantas was ordered to pay $20 million in penalties after admitting it engaged in price-fixing linked to international cargo fuel surcharges.

A federal court in Sydney also fined British Airways $5 million after it admitted an illegal arrangement in the air freight market over the same period with German airline Lufthansa.

And in February this year the court ordered Air France, KLM, Martinair Holland and Cargolux International Airlines to pay penalties totalling $16 million.

The ACCC has also instituted proceedings against Singapore Airlines Cargo, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates and Garuda.

"The ACCC continues to investigate other airlines with the assistance of cooperating parties, and further actions are expected during the next few months," it said.