WASHINGTON — Three air cargo carriers have agreed to plead guilty and pay criminal fines totaling $124.7 million for their roles in a conspiracy to fix prices in the air cargo industry, the Antitrust Division announced today.

LAN Cargo S.A., Aerolinhas Brasileiras S.A. and EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd. have each agreed to pay criminal fines of $109 million, $15.7 million and $0 respectively, for their involvement in the price-fixing conspiracy. This brings the total number of airlines and executives who have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into price fixing in the air transportation industry to 12 and 3 respectively.

To date, more than $1 billion in criminal fines have been imposed and executives have been sentenced to serve a total of 20 months in jail. The ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

According to the charges filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, each airline engaged in a conspiracy in the United States and elsewhere to eliminate competition by fixing the cargo rates charged to customers for international air shipments, including to and from the United States.

LAN Cargo and ABSA are charged with engaging in the conspiracy from in or about February 2003 and continuing until at least Feb. 14, 2006. EL AL is charged with engaging in the conspiracy from in or about January 2003 until at least Feb. 14, 2006. The plea agreements are subject to court approval.

“American consumers were forced to pay higher prices on the goods they buy every day as a result of the inflated and collusive shipping rates charged by these companies,” said Scott D. Hammond, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division.

The nine airlines that have pleaded guilty to date as a result of the Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation into the air transportation industry are: British Airways Plc (British Airways), Korean Air Lines Ltd., Qantas Airways Limited (Qantas), Japan Airlines International Co. Ltd., Martinair Holland N.V., Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, SAS Cargo Group A/S (SAS), Société Air France and Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (KLM Royal Dutch Airlines). The three airline executives who have pleaded guilty for their involvement in the illegal activity are Bruce McCaffrey of Qantas, Timothy Pfeil of SAS and Keith Packer of British Airways.

EL AL, LAN Cargo and ABSA are charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, a violation which carries a maximum sentence of $100 million for corporations. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.