decided. And it will even consider selling it into private hands.

The change from taxpayer subsidy should mean more efficiency and comfort for travellers, Transport Minister the Hon. Ralph Marshall said yesterday.

But it could also lead to more charges for services like parking, he said.

Mr. Marshall announced the plan to MPs yesterday after a hard-hitting report from a committee headed by accountant Mr. Charles Kempe.

"The present management structure and organisation is inadequate and unable to carry out the functions for which it is responsible,'' the report says.

"A dramatic change is required if the standards of service, efficiency and cost-effectiveness are to be improved.'' It criticises Government control of redevelopment projects, which it says tend to get delayed or altered.

"This inevitably results in an obsolete, unsatisfactory and imcomplete facility for all concerned.'' The report says the civil aviation department does not have the staff or equipment to adequately carry out management of the Airport.

It also slams Government for ignoring past recommendations.

It adds: "If the long-term plan for the Airport had proceeded as proposed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a commercially suitable first-class terminal would have been completed in a shorter time and at considerably less cost than is at present being achieved.

"This has been demonstrated by the delays and over-runs involved in the construction of the new departure hall and the near absence of revenue-producing commercial activities in it.

"Such shortcomings are largely due to the constraints imposed on the organisation by Government bureaucracy and the inability to deal with such a large and complex enterprise on a commercial and businesslike basis.

"This is not peculiar to Bermuda and is the main reason why an operation such as the management of airports has been placed under a separate independent organisation in many other jurisdictions.'' In the House of Assembly, Mr. Marshall said Government supported the committee's view that an Airport authority should be set up, owned by Government but separate.

He said the committee suggested the sale of the Airport should be considered, as a logical next step.

Further consideration will be given to this option once an authority has been successfully established, he said.

He told The Royal Gazette the report would be debated in a few weeks, with the intention of setting up an authority in April next year.

"It seems the whole world is moving in the direction we're thinking of,'' he said. "I'm quite confident that we're doing the right thing.

"With the US Navy possibly moving out, whether completely or winding down a bit, that means more of the Airport will come under the responsibility of Bermuda, and if the authority was in place they could probably cope with it better than Government could, and react to problems more than Government red tape would allow for.'' If the Base pulled out, hangars might be used for storage and Marginal Wharf might be used for containers, he said.

He hoped an authority-run Airport would be more comfortable for travellers and allow them to move through more quickly.

The Airport is now subsidised by Government "to a very large extent'', he said. A commercially-run airport would have to find more ways of making money.

Warehouses could be built, more "realistic'' rents charged, and more paid parking introduced.

Mr. Marshall said London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports are now private, owned by the company BAA.

"BAA have said that if Bermuda wishes to privatise the Airport, they would like to have a look at it.''