SkyEurope to pay people to fly

PRAGUE, Czech Republic --SkyEurope Arline, a Central European discount airline, said on Tuesday it will cut ticket prices to minus 10 koruna (US$0.44; euro0.35), claiming to become the first airline that pays people for flying with them.

The cuts apply to tickets for flights between Nov.1-Dec.15 and Jan.9-March 24, 2007, the company said in a statement. The tickets must be booked between Oct. 17, and Sunday midnight.

"As of today, SkyEurope becomes the first airline that pays its passengers for flying," the company said.

SkyEurope was founded in 2001 and began operations in February 2002. It operates services to 37 destinations in 19 countries from bases in Hungary, Poland, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The airline carried 1.85 million people last year.