Air New Zealand hits back at Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) and accused it of making a "jurisdictional and financial grab" after the corporate watchdog announced yesterday it has begun legal proceedings against Air New Zealand and Japan Airlines for price-fixing.

"Air NZ is disappointed today to receive a statement of claim from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission in an obvious jurisdictional and financial grab challenging the right of governments in places such as Hong Kong to regulate their own outbound air services and airfreight markets," said Air NZ general counsel John Blair.

Blair said the airline company is ready to defend the allegations by the ACCC and stressed that the claims were based on ""the fully transparent, formally recorded discussions among airlines for the purposes of obtaining approval for surcharges from regulators such as the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department and the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau".

ACCC alleged that Air New Zealand and Japan Airlines colluded with other airlines to fix the level of certain surcharges between 2002 and 2006.

According to ACCC, these understandings "had the purpose or effect of fixing the price of a fuel surcharge and a security surcharge that were applied to air cargo carried by them and other airlines."

ACCC said that arrangements were reached in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan for fuel surcharges applied to cargo originating in those places, and in Singapore and Hong Kong for understandings on security surcharges.

The ACCC is seeking declarations, injunctive relief, pecuniary penalties and costs.

Preliminary hearings will be held on June 10 in Sydney.