Three former British Airways executives and one current employee face the threat of jail after being charged with price fixing.
The case involves the alleged fixing of fuel surcharges at the airline and Virgin Atlantic between July 2004 and April 2006
BA head of sales Andrew Crawley, ex-commercial director Martin George, communications head Iain Burns and ex-head of UK and Ireland sales Alan Burnett will appear before City of London Magistrates Court on September 24th.
The men have been charged with having dishonestly agreed with others to make or implement arrangements that directly or indirectly fixed the price for the supply in the UK of passenger air transport services by British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways.
The move came following the Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) criminal investigation in price-fixing on surcharges.
In February, a deal between US lawmakers saw BA and Virgin provide over £100 million in refunds for customers who flew between August 11th 2004 and March 23rd 2006.
Passengers will be able to apply for some of their ticket money back from 19:00 today at www.virginbapassengerrefund.com or 0800 0430 343.
BA has already been fined £121.5 million by the OFT and £150 million by the US Department of Justice.
In the UK, under the OFT's whistle blower policy, Virgin was granted immunity against charges.