=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2004/06/22/f= inancial0651EDT0481.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, June 22, 2004 (AP) Competition authority raids SAS Braathen airline offices in Norway (06-22) 04:23 PDT OSLO, Norway (AP) -- Authorities raided the offices of SAS Braathens on Tuesday, seeking evidence that the airline may be illegally undercutting a competitor. SAS Braathens was formed with the merger of the Norwegian unit of Scandinavian Airlines System and the Norwegian airline Braathens earlier this year. It has been meeting tough competition on domestic routes from Norwegian Air Shuttle AS, a small no-frills company that expanded its routes in September 2002 to challenge SAS. The Norwegian Competition Authority said it has a search warrant allowing it to look for evidence that SAS Braathens was using its dominant market position to force out Norwegian. SAS Braathens has cut prices by up to 30 percent on some routes. "The Competition Authority is currently considering whether the company = is infringing the prohibition on abuse of dominance by applying prices below costs in order to eliminate competition," the authority said in a statement. The search warrant, from the Oslo District Court, gives the authority 10 days to search the company's offices at Fornebu, on the outskirts of Oslo. SAS Braathens spokeswoman Siv Meisingseth said the airline was cooperati= ng with the authority. "No one likes such a visit," she said, adding that it was too early to comment on the authority's suspicions. The Competition Authority stressed that the search for documents and evidence does not amount to an allegation that the airline did anything illegal. Shares in SAS AB, the mother company for SAS Braathens, declined 0.42 percent to $8.55 on the Oslo stock exchange in the first two hours of trading on the news of the raid. Shares in Norwegian were up 5.17 percent to $1.77 at the same point. SAS, the flag carrier for Norway, Sweden and Denmark, bought the financially troubled Braathens in 2001, but continued to operate it separately until the merger this year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 AP