Vienna  - Ailing low-cost carrier SkyEurope reported Tuesday that passenger numbers dropped by 23.5 per cent in January, compared with the same month of the previous year.

The Slovakia-based airline, which is listed on the Vienna stock exchange, has said it would reduce capacity by some 19 per cent during the winter months of 2009.

SkyEurope's operating losses more than doubled to 56.1 million euros (72.8 million dollars) in the 2007/08 business year running until September, according to preliminary figures published last November.

There is some bad news for domestic air travelers. In a latest move major Airlines (Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines) including low-cost carriers have withdrawn all promotional fares and increased basic fares by around Rs 2,000 on several sectors from Tuesday.

The companies have decided to stop the low-fare advance purchase (APEX) schemes, quoting that the airfares would now be decided by the market.

Paris - The two main airports of the French capital Paris were closed late Monday after the national weather service forecast the arrival of a storm packing heavy rains and winds of more than 100 kilometres per hour (kph).

The ban imposed by the French Civil Aviation Agency (DGAC) on flights landing at and taking off from Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports was to be enforced at 1900 GMT and remain in effect until at least 0900 GMT Tuesday.

New York  - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented Monday the keys to the city to the five-member crew of US Airways Flight 1549 that crashed in the Hudson River last month without endangering the lives of the 150 passengers.

Bloomberg presented the keys at a City Hall ceremony, calling the crew "five real American heroes."

"That day could have been one of our most tragic, but became one of our most triumphant," Bloomberg said.

Vijay Mallya owned air carrier, Kingfisher Airlines announced 20 per cent cut in the salaries of its pilots, clearly to mitigate the impact of global slowdown on its business. The salaries have been cut in the range of Rs 50,000 and Rs 80,000 per month according to some unofficial reports.

However, Kingfisher spokesperson said that the company had introduced a production-linked compensation structure (PLCS) after November, 2008 and pilots would get equal scale as that of pilots of Air Deccan, adhering norms followed by all international airlines.