Fast food restaurants at Bucharest Airport fined EUR 1.4 mln for collusion

Dnata Catering, controlled by the UAE group Emirates, and its five subcontractors that operate fast-food restaurants at the Henri Coanda International Airport, were sanctioned by the Romanian competition body with fines totaling RON 6.9 million (EUR 1.4 mln) for price-fixing.

Dnata Catering will pay the bulk of the fine - RON 6.6 mln (EUR 1.35 mln). Its subcontractors are Food & Beverages Managament, Trotter and City Cafe Express (both part of the City Grill group), Primero Business Consulting (currently Land of Util Technology), and RBK Property Management.

Following an ex officio investigation launched in June 2019, the Competition Council found that these companies coordinated their trade policies in terms of prices, discounts, promotions both through contractual clauses and through a series of procedures.

Thus, they constantly aligned their prices for the services provided to airport passengers.

Bucharest's Henri Coanda International Airport entrusted exclusively to Dnata Catering the management of the spaces destined for public catering. Dnata Catering, in turn, subcontracted the operations to the five companies.

(Photo: Cateyeperspective | Dreamstime.com)