New York - Continental Airlines, the fourth largest US carrier, said Thursday it lost 263 million dollars in the third quarter amid higher costs for jet fuel that have pounded airlines.

The loss comes after earnings of 241 million dollars in the year- earlier period, the Houston-based company said. Revenue rose 9 per cent to 4.2 billion dollars, but could not overcome the company's 736 million dollar fuel bill. It said it would delay the planned purchase of new aircraft.

Hyderabad, Oct 16 : Air India on Thursday said that it is considering a plan to give about 15,000 of its staff a three-five years leave without pay.

Air India CMD Raghu Menon said, "We are planning to offer leave without pay for three to five years. We can consider it for about 15,000 employees."

However, he said, those who take up the offer to go on leave would be taken back if they desire so at the same seniority and last drawn pay.

Menon''s statement comes at a time when the country''s leading private carrier Jet Airways has laid off 1,100 jobs as the financial crisis in the aviation sector worsens.

Mumbai, Oct 16: Jet Airways decided to lay off 1,100 additional employees in the next few days on Wednesday, according to a top official.

Earlier in the day, Jet said it has retrenched 800 flight attendants and suspended its expansion programme, adding that it will also cut flights because of a slowdown in demand.

The additional job cuts would be across all categories and departments, Executive Director Saroj Datta told reporters in a televised press conference.

Wolfgang Prock Schauer, Chief Executive Officer, Jet Airways, during a news conference in Mumbai, said the suspension of employees had nothing to do with the planned alliance with Kingfisher Airlines.

New Delhi  - India's top private airline, Jet Airways Ltd, Wednesday announced it will lay off 1,900 employees, in what is the single biggest retrenchments in the history of Indian aviation, media reports said.

With the move, Jet Airways that Monday struck an alliance with the country's second-largest private carrier, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, pruned nearly 15 per cent of its staff.

"It is an unfortunate decision, which all of us in the company regret but it is an attempt to save the company and the jobs of the remaining employees," Jet Airways Executive Director B Saroj Dutta was quoted by the PTI news agency as saying.

New York  - The third-largest US air carrier Delta Air Lines reported Wednesday that it lost 50 million dollars in the third quarter of 2008 amid rising fuel costs.

The loss compares with the 220 million dollar profit in the same quarter of 2007, but represented a slowdown in the airline's red ink after the company had posted 7.4 billion dollars in losses in the first six months.

Hyderabad : Airline barons Vijay Mallya and Naresh Goyal today quashed rumours of a merger between Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines.

"There is no equity swap. Our understanding is for purely commercial alliance," Mallya said on the sidelines of an aviation show here.

Justifying the coming together of the two airlines, which account for about 60 per cent of the market share, Goyal said that the break-even point for the aviation sector is at 90 per cent capacity utilisation whereas, "We are now operating between 60-70 per cent."