Private jet, helicopter and turbo-prop charter service provider, Airnetz Aviation plans to raise $100 million over the next 2-3 years to fuel its overseas expansion and fund its aircraft acquisition programme.

The company is presently in advanced stages of negotiations with investors from India, Singapore and the US to raise these funds. 

However, the company did not divulge the identities of the investors the company is in talks with. The company hopes to seal its funding over the next two months.

Madrid - Spain's second-biggest airline Spanair will cut its staff by about a quarter to 3,000 in reaction to rising fuel prices and the global airline crisis, the carrier said Friday.

Spanair will also cancel nine routes, reduce flights on some other routes and trim its fleet by 15 planes or 24 per cent. Operative bases will be reduced from seven to two, which will be located in Madrid and Barcelona.

The measures form part of an austerity plan aimed at saving the company 90 million euros (140 million dollars) in 2009.

Spanair and trade unions were due to begin negotiations about the job cuts in the coming week.

Brussels - The European Union's executive body on Friday agreed to publish the list of objects which passengers are banned from carrying on board aircraft, ahead of an expected ruling from the European Court on the issue.

The European Commission has decided to publish the list, and it will appear in the EU's official journal "in a matter of days," officials in Brussels said.

The list ranges from firearms, harpoon guns and hand grenades to ice picks, skateboards and fishing rods.

Poisons, pepper sprays and all kinds of liquids in quantities of more than 100 millilitres are also on the list.

Hong Kong - A China Airlines jetliner aborted its landing at Hong Kong International Airport because of wild weather and returned to Taiwan leaving about 300 passengers in a state of shock, a media report said Friday.

Flight CI 617 rose to 3,000 metres in a minute and turned back to Taipei at 12:47 am Thursday after it had descended to just 100 metres above sea level on its landing approach, the South China Morning Post said.

Passengers were not told by the pilot what had happened until 20 minutes after the landing had been aborted.

Singapore - Singapore and Malta have signed an Open Skies Agreement (OSA) allowing for full flexibility on air services operated by carriers of both countries, the civil aviation authority said on Friday.

The OSA becomes fully effective on December 1, 2010.

"The OSA will enable our carriers to capitalize on market opportunities that arise in (the) future," said the authority's chief executive officer Lim Kim Choon.

Chicago  - European Airbus is facing the loss of a 2.2- billion-dollar contract with United Airlines amidst plunging airline revenues, the airline said Thursday.

The airlines mother company, UAL, referred to the possibility in a filing with the US stock oversight agency, the Security Exchange commission.

UAL said it was highly possible it would not uphold its order for aircraft of type A319 and A320. United Airlines would lose the 91 million dollars downpayment if it cancels the contract.