departs, the Cabinet Minister handling the return of the Base said yesterday.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has offered to help with Bermuda's air traffic control costs, Management and Technology Minister the Hon. Grant Gibbons told The Royal Gazette .

The Navy is to turn the Airport over to Bermuda next June, and Government is expected to hire a contractor to run it in the short-term.

Bermuda's remote but strategic location made it an attractive spot for the FAA to have a powerful radar, Sen. Gibbons said.

Air traffic routed to America, Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and other places all passed through Bermuda air space, Sen. Gibbons said. About 30,000 to 40,000 aeroplanes a year passed within 180 miles of the Island.

Only a small number of those planes landed in Bermuda. But the fact Bermuda had "en route'' air traffic control that extended to a 180-mile radius was important to both the FAA and the airlines, Sen. Gibbons said.

Safety was one reason, but pilots could also use less fuel if they were able to change their positions more freely for weather and other reasons.

In controlled air space, aeroplanes could come within five nautical miles of each other, but in uncontrolled space they had to increase their distance to 20 miles. There were similar restrictions on elevation of aeroplanes in uncontrolled space.

To safely land planes in Bermuda, tower control to only 60 nautical miles was needed, not the wider-ranging "en route control,'' Sen. Gibbons said.

"The FAA is keenly interested in maintaining cooperative arrangements with Bermuda and are also keenly interested in maintaining en route control,'' he said. "It isn't that critical to Bermuda, but obviously it's important to the FAA and to the aircraft themselves.'' If Bermuda kept an en route system, the FAA "may be able to help us defray some of the costs of providing our air traffic control services.'' With the help of Capt. Tim Bryan of NAS Bermuda, Sen. Gibbons recently met on the Island with FAA officials, including Mr. William Behan, its manager of aviation traffic systems plans.

One proposal was that Bermuda would electronically transmit its radar information to New York, where an air route traffic control centre handles aeroplanes in Bermuda air space.

With the exception of planes landing on or taking off from the Island, "someone would essentially be using the communication lines and talking to the pilot directly from New York, even though the plane was over Bermuda,'' Sen. Gibbons said. Bermuda would still need its own air traffic control, but at lower staffing levels.

"In exchange for that, they have said they might be prepared to help us with maintenance and training.'' Bermudian air traffic controllers might be able to train at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City. The FAA could also help Bermuda upgrade its radar system, get spare parts for equipment left behind by the Navy, and provide technical advice, he said.

A concern was that Bermuda's air sovereignty be protected.

"What we'd like to find is some kind of happy balance where we maintain our sovereignty of air space, but at the same time work closely with the FAA,'' he said.

Another option was for Bermuda to operate its own en route system, and collect fees from airlines that used it. The FAA will start charging for its services when it is transformed into a new corporation, the US Air Traffic Services Corp. If Bermuda delegated to the FAA, it would want to be sure the FAA was not charging rates that would discourage carriers from using Island air space.