Dhaka, March 5 -- The Court of Justice of the European Union rejected appeals by Air France-KLM, British Airways, and other carriers against cartel fines totaling EUR 776 million, equivalent to USD 916 million, bringing a more than two-decade-long legal battle closer to an end.

In a statement, the Luxembourg-based court said it "rejects almost all of the arguments" put forward by the airlines and upheld the decision of the European Commission to penalize them for operating an air cargo cartel.

Only the appeal by SAS Cargo Group was partly upheld. The court cited errors by the lower tribunal in calculating the fine and reduced SAS's penalty to EUR 62.85 million, down from about EUR 70 million.

The European Commission in 2017 reissued fi...