British Airways will appear before a judge in the United States next week to hear if its $300 million (£152 million) price-fixing plea agreement with the Department of Justice is accepted.

Lawyers for the DoJ are also expected to name the individuals involved in the scandal when the hearing takes place on Thursday.

Martin George, BA’s commercial director, and Iain Burns, the communications director, resigned from the airline last year and are being investigated for colluding with Virgin Atlantic to fix ticket prices.

At least one other executive is thought to be under investigation by US authorities for cargo price-fixing. BA last night refused to confirm that it has suspended a member of its cargo management for his part in the conspiracy.

If the DoJ decides to prosecute these individuals, they could face extradition to the US and jail time, or an unlimited fine.

BA was fined two weeks ago by both American and British authorities for fixing fuel surcharge prices with its competitors. The Office of Fair

Trading fined the airline £121.5 million when it emerged that BA and Virgin colluded to set surcharges on transatlantic passenger flights.

Virgin’s lawyers blew the whistle on this illegal co-operation and, as a result, the airline is now protected from prosecution.

BA has also admitted that it colluded with other airlines to fix fuel surcharge prices for cargo customers. Korean Airlines will also appear in court this week after it too was fined $300 million for its part in fixing cargo prices.

American lawyers are preparing class-action lawsuits against BA and Virgin to demand compensation for passengers. Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, a Washington-based law firm, has lodged a lawsuit in a San Francisco court and is preparing to bring a similar claim to London.

Virgin has already received a passenger lawsuit in the United States and is in talks to settle it.

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