European Commission inspectors raided the offices of several airlines operating flights to Japan today in an investigation into suspected cartel activity.
The commission, Europe's top competition regulator, issued the confirmation after Deutsche Lufthansa said it had been searched in an investigation into price-fixing on routes between Europe and Japan.
A source at Alitalia said Italy's troubled national carrier was also raided by EU inspectors investigating a suspected cartel on Japan routes.
"The commission has reason to believe that the companies concerned may have violated EC rules on restrictive business practices," the EU statement said.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic said they had not been raided. Spain's Iberia said its flights to Japan were operated on a code-share basis and it had no information on the investigation.