peeling asphalt on the runway.

Thursday's 8.10 p.m. British Airways flight to London was delayed until 11 a.m. yesterday morning. And the American Airlines flight for New York which normally departs Bermuda at 7 a.m. did not take off until 10.35 a.m.

Arrivals also experienced short delays after the pilot of the Continental flight from Newark first noticed the problem at about 4 p.m. on Thursday.

Mr. John Williams, acting general manager of the Airport, said the corner of a rectangular asphalt patch that had been placed on the tarmac in the last several months had begun to peel away.

Serco IAL, the British contractor who took over responsibility for runway maintenance from the US Navy on June 1, called in East End Asphalt Co. Ltd. to replace the patch, which was in the centre of the runway and measured 22 feet by 48 feet.

The Airport was closed completely yesterday from 6.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. to allow work on the runway to be completed, Mr. Williams said.

Crews took advantage of the closure to complete a detailed inspection of the tarmac, which has also recently been surveyed by Serco, Mr. Williams said.

There were no signs of any other problems, he said.

It was not clear why the bond failed on the original patch, which was made before Government assumed control of the Airport on June 1, Mr. Williams added.

Occurring so soon after the handover of air operations and shortly before the final pull-out of the US Navy on September 1, the runway peeling has raised concerns. But they were downplayed yesterday by both Base Commanding Officer Capt. Tim Bryan and Management and Technology Minister the Hon. Grant Gibbons, the main Cabinet Minister responsible for the Bases.

"Runways get repaired all the time,'' Capt. Bryan told The Royal Gazette .

"It's just an ongoing fact of life.'' He described the condition of the runway as "excellent'', saying it was recently "derubberised'' and repainted. The Navy believed no resurfacing was needed for more than five years, he added.

Dr. Gibbons said Bermuda recently commissioned an engineering study on the runway, and while there were some cracking problems, they would not affect safety. Concrete aprons at the two ends of the runway would likely require work in about two years.

"We're aware that there has been quite a bit of deferred maintenance in various aspects of the infrastructure'' at the Base, Dr. Gibbons said. But "we felt the runway and air operations have been kept up very well''.

The runway is checked three times daily by the crash/fire/rescue crews and once daily by the electrical group, Dr. Gibbons said. The asphalt separation the Continental pilot noticed may have coincided with his tyres hitting it, he said.