The European Commission has been ordered by the European General Court to rescind the fines it had placed on several global airlines in the freight market.

Totalling €790 million (£572.9 million), the airlines were originally fined for their negative participation on the air freight market, reports Logistics Manager.

Some of the airlines fined included Air Canada, Air France-KLM, British Airways, Qantas and Japan Airlines.

Originally the Commission brought forward the case against charging the airlines, after Deutsche Lufthansa posted an application for immunity, which was later granted.

The reason the European Court has decided to annul the fines is based on the Commission originally claiming that there was a single cartel and a single continuous infringement in which all of the airlines were involved.

However, it came to light that the Commission found several infringements, which didn't involve all the participants who were fined.

As such, the European Court believed that this indicated a contradiction between the decision to fine the airlines and its actual operation.