Price-fix payments for passengers

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But while lawyers involved could end up many millions of pounds richer, passengers in the UK might get as little as £1 per ticket in compensation.

BA said that it and Virgin had agreed in principle to resolve the class action litigation pending in a California court.

It is thought that the settlement, which still has to be finally approved, will cost BA about £70 million and Virgin about £34 million. The BA total includes about £45.5 million for UK passengers affected

BA said that about 11 million passengers - including seven million in the UK - were affected by the settlement. It added that the settlement was worth between £1 and £11.50 per ticket purchased for the affected long-haul flights by UK passengers and between 1.50 dollars (about 75p) and 20.50 dollars (about £11.25) for US passengers.

One aviation source said: "The real winners here are the lawyers. The firm involved could be getting many millions from this."

BA has already been fined £121.5 million by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) last year and a further 300 million US dollars (about £150 million) by the US Department of Justice after it was found guilty of conspiring to fix fuel surcharges.

Virgin escaped financial punishment last year after the group came forward to expose the collusion.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh, said: "As we have previously said, we absolutely condemn any anti-competitive activity by anybody. This settlement, which BA and Virgin Atlantic have jointly agreed with the lawyers for the plaintiffs, is fair and reasonable. BA can now move on and do what we do best - delivering excellent customer service."

A spokesman for Virgin Atlantic said: "We deeply regret our involvement in this matter and believe that the provisional settlement reached draws a line under this episode."