BRUSSELS, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Europe's top court should

reject an appeal by Air France KLM and its Dutch unit

KLM, British Airways, Singapore Airlines and

some of their peers against cartel fines imposed by EU antitrust

regulators in 2017, an adviser to the court said on Thursday.

The European Commission seven years ago reissued fines

totalling 776 million euros to 11 airlines for taking part in a

cartel to fix air cargo prices, after the Luxembourg-based

General Court scrapped its first decision levied in 2010 due to

a procedural error.

The carriers took their grievance back to the lower tribunal

which threw out their challenges in 2022, prompting them to

appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

The court's judges should dismiss their appeals, CJEU

Advocate General Athanasios Rantos said in a non-binding

opinion, as he sided with the EU competition enforcer.

He said SAS' appeal for a cut in its fine should be

referred back to the General Court to be reviewed.

The CJEU, which usually follows the majority of such

recommendations, will rule in the coming months.

Air France-KLM's fine was the highest at 182.9 million

euros, followed by KLM at 127.1 million. Lufthansa,

which avoided a fine after it alerted the EU watchdog to the

cartel, had also appealed the decision because it disagreed with

the Commission's legal arguments.

The EU watchdog said the cartel fixed air freight services,

fuel and security surcharges from December 1999 to February

2006.

The other airlines which appealed the EU fines are Air

Canada ( ACDVF ), Japan Airlines ( JPNRF ), Cathay Pacific Airways ( CPCAF )

, Latam Airlines Group and its subsidiary Lan Cargo,

and Cargolux.

The cases are C-367/22 P Air Canada v Commission, C-369/22 P

Air France v Commission, C-370/22 P Air France-KLM v Commission,

C-375/22 P LATAM Airlines Group and Lan Cargo v Commission,

C-378/22 P British Airways v Commission, C-379/22 P Singapore

Airlines and Singapore Airlines Cargo v Commission, C-380/22 P

Deutsche Lufthansa and Others v Commission, C-381/22 P Japan

Airlines v Commission, C-382/22 P Cathay Pacific Airways v

Commission, C-385/22 P Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij v

Commission, C-386/22 P Martinair Holland v Commission, C-401/22

P Cargolux Airlines v Commission and C-403/22 P SAS Cargo Group

and Others v Commission.