Supreme Court overturns district court's decision regarding Icelandair's liability – Icelandair to pay 80 million kr. for abuse of a dominant market position.

In June 2007 confirm Appeals Authority for Competition a decision of the Competition Authority No. 11/2007 regarding the promotion and sale of flight tickets, so-called 'Netsmells' amounting to 16,900 kr., which were offered to Icelandair's customers in 2004 on the route between Keflavik and Copenhagen on the one hand, and on the route between Keflavik and London on the other, the company had abused its dominant market position and breached competition law. Icelandair was ordered to pay a fine of 130 million króna to the state treasury. Icelandair appealed the appeal board's decision to the courts. The hearing of the case was delayed pending an expert assessment that Icelandair had requested.

In February 2010 confirm The Reykjavík District Court overturned the Competition Appeals Board's finding that Icelandair was in a dominant market position and had abused it, thereby breaching Article 11 of the Competition Act. The District Court, however, considered the infringements to be less serious than those found by the Competition Appeals Board and therefore quashed its decision to impose a fine.

The Competition Authority considered it to be the wrong decision to annul the fine against Icelandair and appealed this ruling of the District Court to the Supreme Court in February 2011. unbranded The Supreme Court overturned the district court's judgment on the grounds that an excessive amount of time had passed between the main hearing and the delivery of the judgment. The case was therefore remitted to the district court for a substantive hearing, which delivered a new judgment on 25 February 2011. The district court reached the same conclusion as in the previous judgment, and the Competition Authority again appealed the case to the Supreme Court, demanding, among other things, that a fine be imposed on Icelandair.

With judgement The Supreme Court today confirmed the finding that Icelandair had abused its dominant market position on the flight route between Keflavik and Copenhagen. In light of this infringement and noting that Icelandair had previously abused its dominant position in air travel, the Supreme Court ruled that the company should pay an 80 million króna administrative fine.