Berlin  - European aircraft maker Airbus said Friday it had sold its plant at Laupheim in Germany to German armaments company Diehl and its partner Thales.

No details were provided on the financial details of the sale, which is effective from October 1 and is subject to competition authority approval.

Diehl, based in Nuremberg in the southern German state of Bavaria, is to hold 51 per cent of the company, while French defence concern Thales holds the rest.

Oil PSUs hiked the prices of jet fuels by 3% on Thursdat, and consequently the domestic airlines Jet and Kingfisher-Deccan decided to increase their basic fares from Friday. The hike in the air fare has been on constant increase from past some time now, due to basic reason of rise in the crude oil prices.

London - British Airways Friday reported an 88-per-cent drop in pre-tax profits in the last fiscal quarter to 37 million pounds (73.3 million dollars) as a result of rocketing fuel costs.

The figure for the three months up to the end of June compares with 298 million pounds for the same period in 2007.

British Airways has blamed a doubling of fuel costs for a sharp profits fall, saying the airline industry faced the "worst trading environment ever."

Fuel costs were 8 million pounds a day and were expected to reach 3 billion pounds in the year to the end of March 2009, said the airline.

Singapore - Singapore Airlines (SIA) is increasing its A380 services on the Singapore-London route to "double daily" starting September 20, the carrier said on Wednesday.

The second flight of the superjumbo will depart Singapore as SQ318, and return from London as SQ321.

A third daily flight will continue to be operated by a Boeing 747-400 "for the time being," SIA's statement said.

The twice-a-day A380 service is currently flying four times weekly. Following the delivery of a sixth A380 to SIA from manufacturer Airbus in September, the second daily flight will also be added on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, every day of the week.

Vancouver - A Cathay Pacific Boeing 747 aircraft was damaged in mid-air when it descended towards Vancouver airport in western Canada, news reports said Tuesday.

According to initial reports, an external air-conditioning vent on the underside of the plane broke and damaged other parts of the aircraft, the Canadian TV station CBC said.

The plane, however, landed without problems, its 363 passengers were unharmed.

The plane was en route from New York to Hong Kong via Vancouver, reports said.

London  - British Airways (BA) and Spanish airline Iberia said Tuesday they were in talks about a possible merger that would help both companies in the "current economic environment."

The firms said the British Airways and Iberia brands would be retained as part of a combined group.

However, it would take several months to reach an agreement on the terms of a possible merger.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said the proposed merger would help the airlines in the current economic environment.

BA's share price rose by 8 per cent in London on the news.