New Delhi, Feb 16: Public sector oil companies have announced a slash of 3.7 per cent in the prices of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), the tenth reduction since last September.

The slash in prices came into effect from Sunday midnight.

Jet fuel prices in Delhi were slashed to Rs 29,158 per kilolitre from Rs 30,288 per kilolitre.

In Mumbai, ATF rates went down by Rs 1,191 per kilolitre to Rs 29,985 per kilolitre.

ATF prices rose to Rs 71,028.26 per kilolitre in Delhi in August 2008 with the peaking of global crude oil prices to 147 dollars a barrel.

Since then, fuel prices have been slashed every month and decreased twice in November.

The government has hardened its stance over air fare hike by some private airlines, issuing a letter to Kingfisher Airlines asking it to provide details of fare hike by February 14.

The chairman of Kingfisher Airline, Vijay Mallya said, "Let me confirm that we have late yesterday received a letter from the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), asking details about the fare hike, to which we shall reply." The air carrier would soon reply to DGCA clearing its stance over the fare hike.

London  - Two female teenage air cadets and two Royal Air Force (RAF) instructors were killed in a mid-air collision of two RAF training aircraft in Britain Wednesday.

The two light aircraft crashed over sand dunes in a nature reserve in south Wales, in the south-west of Britain, police said.

The two girls, of school age, were taking part as air training corps cadets in a half-hour flying experience offered by the RAF.

Brussels/Vienna  - The European Commission on Wednesday launched a probe into claims that Germany's Lufthansa may not be paying enough for Austrian Airlines in its bid to create Europe's largest carrier.

In a statement, the European Union executive in Brussels expressed "doubts that the price to be paid by Lufthansa reflects the market price for what is being sold."

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.