An international airline has dismissed a claim by Tourism Minister Ewart Brown that it has an unwritten agreement with another firm which has resulted in flight prices from the UK to Bermuda remaining high.

Deputy Premier Dr. Brown suggested at a public meeting that Virgin Atlantic Airways and British Airways could have an ?unwritten covenant? which stopped Virgin from flying to the Island.

Virgin Atlantic said last night it ?absolutely refuted? the suggestion and was still considering Bermuda as a possible destination.

Dr. Brown made his remarks after a member of the public asked when Virgin would be coming to Bermuda.

He said: ?We have approached Virgin Airways on numerous occasions. I made a specific journey to London to meet with them.

?I left convinced that there is unwritten covenant between BA and Virgin. They don?t like it when I talk like this. We gave them a scenario where it did not make economic sense for them to turn down an opportunity.?

He added: ?BA is to the UK what American Airlines is to the United States. As long as BA has the monopoly I doubt we are going to see much change in fares.?

Speaking later to , he said: ?I made a special trip to London to speak to Virgin Airways. My personal belief is that they have their own internal reasons for not competing with British Airways.

?What they are I don?t know. But we made the economic case and I thought it was a very strong case and told them the London to Bermuda route could probably be more profitable than London to Barbados.?

He said he met with the Virgin Airways executives ?two or three years ago?, adding: ?Then we tried to develop a relationship with Virgin Holidays, the vacation arm of their airline, and that did not go anywhere because ultimately you have to have the plane.?

Asked if he suspected there was some agreement between British Airways and Virgin Airways that was prohibiting Virgin from competing on the Bermuda route, the Minister said: ?There has been speculation even in our Ministry that there must be some sort of unwritten covenant but that?s speculation.

?It defies the capitalist model as to why they would fly to Bermuda. We will just have to wait until they see it differently or someone else steps into it. What we want is competition out of every gateway if we can.?

Dr. Brown said the Tourism Department would continue to knock on Virgin Atlantic Airways door to try to persuade them to fly to the Island.

Virgin spokeswoman Charlotte Tidball said: ?Virgin Atlantic absolutely refutes any suggestion that there has been any measure of collusion or communication with British Airways about serving or not serving the London-Bermuda market.

?We have many potential destinations, such as Bermuda, however we also have limited resources in terms of aircraft, runway slots at Heathrow and Gatwick and cabin crew.

?Bermuda is a route that we have studied in the past and will continue to evaluate for the future.? British Airways spokeswoman Honor Verrier said the airline did not wish to comment.

Dr. Brown also told the PLP community meeting at Warwick Workman?s Club on Monday night that he was hopeful about plans for Fly First Class to operate flights from the UK to Bermuda.

The Florida-based airline was reported to be planning to launch the flights from London Stansted in April. The company could not be contacted for comment yesterday.

Dr. Brown said he still believed that the number of airline arrivals to Bermuda would reach 400,000 a year by 2008.