Sydney  - A Qantas Airways jet aborted a flight to Singapore and returned to the Australian west coast city of Perth after one of its two engines was shut down, news reports said Saturday.

The Airbus A330 with 168 passengers aboard turned back Friday when an engine oil warning light flashed in the cockpit.

Aviation sources told The Sydney Morning Herald that the engine starter motor failed because maintenance engineers in Hong Kong had forgotten to oil the motor after an overhaul last week.

Vienna  - Budget carrier SkyEurope reported Friday that its net loss for its business year running until the end of September more than doubled to 59.4 million euros
(77 million dollars), as results were affected by high fuel prices.

The company defaulted on an aircraft lease earlier this week and has to repay loans worth 25 million euros to US investor York Global Finance, one of its major stakeholders, by December 15.

As of September 30, the budget carrier's cash reserves amounted to 1.3 million euros, down from 11.6 million euros in 2007, SkyEurope said in its preliminary annual report.

The airline is listed on the Vienna stock exchange but operates from the Slovak capital Bratislava.

Vienna  - Austrian Airlines AG announced Friday that its losses for 2008 would amount to up to 415 million euros (538 million dollars), more than triple the previously forecast net loss of 125 million euros.

The Austrian flag carrier that is expected to be taken over by Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa AG in early December also said it needed interim financing until the European Commission approved the deal.

The widening of the net losses are a result of up to 200 million euros of write-offs of aircraft, which have been losing market value in the current economic climate, as well as from around 90 million euros of negative tax effects.

Singapore  - Singapore has concluded two separate Open Skies Agreements (OSAs) with Romania and Zambia to allow full flexibility on air services, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced Friday.

The OSA between Singapore and Romania allows Singapore carriers to operate any number of passenger and cargo flights between Singapore and points in Romania, as well as beyond Romania to any other city in the world.

Likewise, Romania carriers might operate any number of flights to and beyond Singapore.

Geneva - Air traffic continued to contract in October, statistics released Thursday showed, marking the second consecutive month of global decline.

In September, global air traffic contracted by 2.9 per cent compared to the previous year, while in October the drop was slightly less drastic, standing at 1.3 per cent when compared to the same month in 2007, according to the International Air Transport Association.

International air freight traffic dropped by 7.9 per cent in October, the fifth consecutive month of such contractions.

"The situation of the industry remains critical," said Giovanni Bisignani, the director of the IATA, which says it represents 93 percent of scheduled international air traffic.

Dr. Vijay Mallya, Chairman & CEO, Kingfisher Airlines Limited has said that Kingfisher will immediately reduce airfares across the board as soon as the declared goods classification is approved for Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF). Also, Kingfisher will ensure that there are no loss of jobs.

With a fleet of 85 aircrafts, Kingfisher believes that it should make travel affordable to all Indians from different socio-economic classes.

Mallya was responding to the Finance Minister P Chidambaram's announcement to introduce a bill during the forthcoming Parliament session to bring ATF under the declared goods category.