UPDATE 1-Brazil, Chile, Israel airlines fixed cargo prices-DOJ

WASHINGTON, Jan 22 - LAN Cargo S.A., Aerolinhas Brasileiras and EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to fix air freight prices, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday, and the companies will pay criminal fines totaling $124.7 million.

LAN Cargo and Aerolinhas Brasileiras, which is substantially owned by LAN Cargo, will pay a combined fine of $109 million while EL AL will pay a $15.7 million fine, the Justice Department said. LAN Cargo is a unit of Chile's dominant airline LAN.

All three airlines agreed to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors, who have collected more than $1 billion in criminal fines from an ongoing probe of price-fixing for air cargo shipments.

LAN Cargo and Aerolinhas Brasileiras S.A. were charged with conspiring to fix prices for fresh flowers, heavy equipment and other goods between February 2003 and February 2006. Prosecutors said that EL AL's participation in the conspiracy lasted from about January 2003 until at least February 2006.

LAN Cargo said on Wednesday that it agreed to pay an $88 million fine over five years as part of the U.S. price-fixing investigation.

"The company already had established a $75 million reserve in anticipation of a financial penalty. The reserve amounts were offset against the company's results for 2007 and for the third quarter 2008," LAN Cargo said in a statement.

LAN Cargo said Aerolinhas Brasileiras S.A. would pay a fine of $21 million over five years.

The plea agreements are subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

LAN Cargo said it understood the investigation involved more than 30 international airlines.

The Justice Department said 12 airlines had agreed to plead guilty to price fixing as part of the investigation and would pay more than $1 billion in criminal fines. It said three executives had agreed to plead guilty and had been sentenced to serve a total of 20 months in jail.