Washington - Three international airlines have agreed to plead guilty to price fixing and pay a total of 214 million dollars in criminal fines, the US Justice Department said Thursday.

The move brought to 15 the number of companies fined by the United States in a long-running criminal investigation of the industry.

The latest charges implicate Luxembourg's Cargolux Airlines International SA, Japan's Nippon Cargo Airlines Co Ltd (NCA) and Korean company Asiana Airlines Inc. The plea agreements must still be approved by a US court.

Under the deals, Cargolux will pay 119 million dollars and NCA 45 million dollars for fixing cargo rates over a six-year period starting in 2000. Asiana was fined 50 million dollars for price fixing of both passenger and cargo rates over the same timeframe.

The Justice Department has now levied more than 1.6 billion dollars in fines to airlines in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Three executives have also been sentenced to prison terms.

Scott Hammond, assistant attorney general for the antitrust division, said the investigation would continue "until all co- conspirators are brought to justice."