Air New Zealand is the latest airline to reach a settlement with plaintiffs in the ongoing air cargo cartel lawsuit in the US.

On Sunday, lawfirm Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer (KFK) announced that the airline had reached a $35m settlement, subject to court approval, pushing the total amount raised through agreements to more than $1.2bn.

KFK said the only airline left to face trial or reach an agreement was Air India.

“To date, plaintiffs have entered into settlements with 27 defendant groups totalling more than $1.2bn, of which settlements with 24 defendant groups for $1.04bn have been granted final approval by the court,” the law firm said.

The industry-wide litigation arose from allegations about the pricing practices of a number of air cargo carriers on routes to and from the US from January 2000 through September 2006.

In February, Air China reached a settlement with plaintiffs.