Years of talks between Tourism officials and European airlines have finally resulted in Bermuda getting a direct air link with the Continent.

Lufthansa subsidiary Condor will start flying to Bermuda on a weekly basis next May 2, Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge announced yesterday.

A Condor 767 carrying a maximum of 260 passengers will fly out of Frankfurt, Germany on Tuesdays only at first, he said.

Condor senior sales manager Mr. Roland Langlitch said airfares would run around $855 in the low season and $1,093 in the peak season.

"We will do our best to fill it but we know the first season will be difficult,'' he said. "We are very optimistic though. The German market to Bermuda has a good rate of traffic and it is expected to increase even more than now when the only connection is via London.'' The latest tourism figures showed European air visitor arrivals were up 14.2 percent for the year, from 3,350 to 3,827 with most coming from Germany.

However, in July alone, air arrivals from Germany only were down 3.3 percent over 1993 and 1.8 percent for Europe as a whole.

Mr. Woolridge said the Bermuda Hotel Association played a very "integral part'' in securing the air link and there was some money involved, but the undisclosed amount was in the form of a guarantee rather than "money up front''.

"We have been working for some time to have a direct link out of Europe,'' he said. "Up until now the only link was British Airways.'' Mr. Woolridge said the deal was sealed once Condor became satisfied Bermuda was a viable market.

The airline may be familiar to residents because it has been flying to Bermuda on a charter basis over the last year.

Mr. Woolridge said Tourism had been aggressively marketing Bermuda in Europe, especially Germany for some time, setting up a German-staffed office in Munich.

It had also brought a number of German tour operators to Bermuda and entertained others.