India's largest private airline, Jet Airways is thinking to reduce salaries and perks of its top management in line with its cost cutting measures. Earlier, few days before Diwali, it had decided to lay-off staff, following international credit crisis and loss booked by the airline due to high fuel costs and lower sales.

However, the company had to roll back its decision, following pressure from the government and politicians, who came for help of sacked employees.

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's budget airline AirAsia hopes to soar above the current global travel slump by defying the conventional, and introducing unorthodox mechanisms to increase passenger volume.

With travel experts predicting a major drop in tourism across the region, airlines across the board have taken to cutting back on growth and routes to reduce capacity and match lower demand.

AirAsia, however, has chosen to fly the path less travelled.

Paris - French-Dutch airline Air France-KLM said Thursday that profits for the first half of fiscal year 2008-9 slumped because of the economic slowdown and the high cost of fuel.

Operating income fell by 43.9 per cent, to 639 million euros (800 million dollars), in the period ending September 30, the carrier said in a press statement.

Earnings per share plunged by 84 per cent, to 0.66 euros, while turnover stood at 12.983 billion euros, up a modest 4.4 per cent, for the first half of the fiscal year.

A committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary Mr K. M. Chandrasekhar, has recommended air fare cut to the Civil Aviation Ministry in a line with fall in prices of aviation turbine fuel. The committee was set up by government to examine the credit situation faced by aviation sector following global slowdown.

It has also asked to rationalize tax slab on aviation turbine fuel, besides giving a status of declared goods to jet fuel to bring down its prices. Declared goods status would ensure flat four per cent tax on fuel across the country.

Rome  - Italy's Economic Development Minister Claudio Scajola gave the green light Wednesday for the sale "at not less than 1.052 billion euros" (1.328 billion dollars) of struggling state-controlled carrier Alitalia to an Italian private consortium.

Scajola authorized Alitalia's bankruptcy commissioner, Augusto Fantozzi, providing the government's financial terms are met, to proceed with the "transfer of the airline's assets to the Compagnia Aerea Italiana (CAI) by December 1," said an Economic Development ministry statement.

Hong Kong - Cathay Pacific Airways said Wednesday that it has scrapped the traditional end-of-year bonus for all its Hong Kong staff in a cost-cutting measure sparked by the global economic crisis.

Chief executive Tony Tyler blamed the move on the difficulties the airline was facing because of fuel price hikes earlier this year and the worsening economic downturn.