New measures should be introduced within weeks to reduce the lengthy passenger lines at Bermuda International Airport, Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown said last night.

Visitors have complained about the frustration of waiting for more than an hour to clear Customs and Immigration at lunchtime when around four flights arrive at the same time.

Dr. Brown, said yesterday a team of civil servants from the Ministries of Tourism and Finance was working on a solution.

He said the long lines were not a good introduction to Bermuda for tourists and business travellers but civil servants were working on a solution.

"This is more than an airport matter. It also involves the Finance Ministry for Customs," said Dr. Brown.

"We are attempting to solve this problem. We have always had flights bunched as they are now, so it is not new.

"There is something we have to fix. I believe we are well on the way to finding a solution. I wish it was solved yesterday.

"We know it is an inconvenience. It is not a great way to greet people coming into the country and we are doing our very best to fix it and we should be able to fix it in the next few weeks.

"Top level civil servants are working on it and I am confident they will find a solution in the next few weeks or I personally would call the problem critical."

Former Tourism Minister DeForest (Shorty) Trimingham complained yesterday about the lengthy delays he witnessed when he arrived on the 12.15 p.m. US Airways flight from Philadelphia.

"The remarks from visitors were not exactly flattering. There can be no reason why this Government cannot give our visitors a reasonable arrival," he said.

"Their first impression is not good and I'm embarrassed for Bermuda to make our visitors undertake this incredible agony and what appears to them a needless delay.

"Whoever wants to get elected - that is not the way to do it. It really was disastrous. I was appalled. This is the first thing people get (on arrival) a slap in the face."

He said he did not have to wait in line for a long time, however, because his wife was in a wheelchair.

"If this had happened when I was in (Government) I would be kicking up hell. This is something which can be fixed," he added.

Visitor Michael Horn from Maine wrote to The Royal Gazette that when he arrived from Boston on April 30, four plane-loads of passengers were stacked up together with only eight Immigration officers dealing with them.

"It was well over an hour before we got into our cab. That's more than half the time it took to fly in from Boston," he wrote.

"Perhaps some planning ahead is warranted here. These planes don't just drop into Bermuda unannounced. What's the purpose of hurrying a thousand or so people in so we can all stand and wait?

"We've been coming to Bermuda for nigh on 40 years - including post-9/11, but this was a new experience."