LONDON, United Kingdom (AP):

British Airways (BA) PLC said yesterday that two executives embroiled in a trans-Atlantic antitrust investigation over alleged price-fixing on fuel surcharges have resigned after an internal probe found that staff had held talks with a competitor on the issue.

Commercial Director Martin George and Iain Burns, the carrier's head of communications, had both been on a leave of absence since June when the Office of Fair Trading and the United States Justice Department began their investigation.

In a letter to BA chairman Martin Broughton, George said his department may have been involved in "inappropriate conversations in violation of company policy in relation to fuel surcharges."

"I was not involved in such conversations," Burns added. "Although the board of BA have not found that I have behaved in a dishonest way, I fully recognise my responsibilities as head of department and as a board director," George said.

BA's statement did not contain any comments from Iain Burns.

"It has emerged from work done by BA in response to a request for information by the regulators that contacts took place with a competitor in respect of long-haul passenger fuel surcharges in breach of the company's compliance policy," the airline said.

Britain's Office of Fair Trading said Monday that the investigation - a criminal and civil probe into alleged price coordination by airlines in relation to fuel surcharges for long-haul passenger flights to and from Britain - is continuing.