Kathmandu  - An investigation into air crash near Mount Everest in October blamed pilot error for the accident, a government report said Thursday.

The crash at Lukla airport, about 175 kilometres north-east of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, on October 4, 2007, killed 18 people, including 12 Germans, two Australians and four Nepalese nationals. The only survivor was the plane's captain.

A report submitted to the government said the primary cause of the accident of the Yeti Airlines Twin Otter aircraft was misjudgment by the pilots while landing at the airport.

It is time to enjoy cheep air travel as the leading domestic airlines are slashing the air fares significantly. Declining crude rates and low demand in the aviation sector is forcing the air carriers to cut air fares. Domestic air traffic declined significantly with just 30 lakh people using the air services in November.

It will come as a relief to those, who have to travel regularly by air and were frustrated by paying high fares time and time again, since it was announced by Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya that his airlines would cut fares by 1st January. Though he did not quantify the cut, sources confirm that it would be between 10% and 15%. So overall, the fares could further drop between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. There had been reduction of fuel surcharge by Rs 400 during the last month.

Wellington  - Air New Zealand successfully conducted the world's first commercial aviation test flight powered by fuel from the seeds of the African jatropha plant on Tuesday.

Chief executive Rob Fyfe said after the jumbo jet's two-hour flight from Auckland, "It is Air New Zealand's long-term goal to become the world's most environmentally sustainable airline and we have today made further significant progress towards this."

A biofuel blend of 50-50 jatropha and Jet A1 fuel was used to power one of the airline's Boeing 747-400's Rolls-Royce engines.

Air New Zealand, which described jatropha as a sustainable second-generation biofuel, said that more than a dozen key performance tests were undertaken during the flight.

The country’s leading private air-carrier, Kingfisher Airlines, has decided to cut fares across its network from January 1.

The fare-cut is expected to be in the range of 12–15%. However, the company did not specify the quantum by which fares would come down.

It may be noted that Civil aviation minister Praful Patel had repeatedly asked the airlines to pass on the benefit of sharp a drop in ATF prices to passengers.

For the last four months, a dramatic fall in ATF prices has been noticed.

One of the country's top private air-carrier, Kingfisher Airlines has announced that it would effect fare cut across its network from January 1.

In a press release, Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijaya Mallya said, “Kingfisher Airlines will begin the New Year on an aggressive note by slashing fares on its network.”

However, Mallya did not state the quantum by which fares would come down.