A new Airport terminal with covered loading bridges could be built within ten years.

The news will be welcomed by passengers forced to brave the elements when disembarking at Bermuda International Airport.

Airport representative Liester Nelson told The Royal Gazette yesterday that a new terminal - which would cost upwards of $100 million - was definitely on the agenda for the near future.

In the meantime, Bermudians and tourists will be unprotected from rain and wind when crossing the tarmac from the terminals to the airplane steps.

Mr. Nelson was responding to the complaints of Ms Janice Swainson, who returned to the Island on a US air flight from Philadelphia during heavy rains on Monday.

Ms Swainson called a number of media sources and Government officials to make them aware of her experience.

She said: "I returned home with my baby, six-month-old grandson and my mother who is over 80. No effort was made to try to protect us from the pouring rain. They didn't even offer us umbrellas. What would happen if the baby got pneumonia after getting soaking wet."

The Bermuda Airport should look into covered loading bridges like those found in major international airports, Ms Swainson said yesterday. "When I left Philadelphia I didn't even know if it was raining because I didn't have to go outside when I got on the plane"

But according to Mr. Nelson covered loading bridges had been investigated by Airport officials and had been deemed too costly. He said yesterday that there had been a study commissioned three or four years ago to look at the possibility of loading bridges being used at the Airport.

Costs were totalled to be $20 million for the initial installation and with annual maintenance on top of that.

"The costs of this project would far exceed the benefits," said Mr. Nelson.

That was not the only sheltering that the Airport has considered for its passengers. Between 1995 and 1996 there had been a trial with a device Mr. Nelson called a "mobile tunnel". The passengers passed through the tunnel, which stretched telescopically from the plane steps to the terminal building, but it was ultimately scrapped due to its instability in windy conditions. Said Mr. Nelson: "We are aware of the problem and are trying to address it, but a $20 million price tag is too much for a non-revenue project. With an annual capital budget of only $5 million even just doubling that budget would be quite excessive"

Currently when passengers are caught in the rain it is the airline, not the airport which determines how, or if, passengers were protected, said Mr. Nelson.

According to a representative at a major international airline, normal protocol for rainy weather here in Bermuda is the issuing of ponchos. Umbrellas had previously been provided but grew to be too costly and passengers could not remain on the plane waiting for a relief in the weather due to strict flight time schedules, he said.