Direct flights by a Bermuda-based airlines to the US and Europe could take off by mid-summer.

Bermuda Star Ltd. founder Leopold Kuchler yesterday claimed that Air Bermuda - the operational name for Bermuda Star Ltd. - has secured $30 million in funding from international investors.

With the money now in place, Mr. Kuchler said the last details are being ironed out before the airline is officially launched with an inaugural flight to Manchester and Munich during the summer months.

One of those details would appear to be approval from aviation authorities.

Mr. Kuchler told The Royal Gazette the various licenses needed were “in process” but chairman of Bermuda's Air Transport Licensing Board (ATLB) Austin Thomas said last night that the last time he checked, which was this week, the committee was still waiting for more information from the company.

The fledgling company needs to be licensed in Bermuda by the Air Transport Licensing Board (ATLB) and be given regulatory approval by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

However, CAA technical officers have still not made a recommendation to the ATLB to allow them to make a decision, Mr. Thomas said. And until the board receives the information - which it has been waiting for since December, 2002 - it cannot decide whether to licence Bermuda Star. Mr. Kuchler, the honorary Austrian consul, and his wife Cynthia - who run Vienna Guest Apartments in Warwick - incorporated Bermuda Star as a limited liability company in early 2002, with plans to have the Island's first airline up and running within the year.

As for the delays, Mr. Kuchler said he he had been working on the project since 1999 but initial investors withdrew support after the terrorist attacks on the US in September, 2001.

“We have had our ups and downs with international events. After September 11, the investors - who were American - pulled out. They were no longer interested, as they then had different priorities,” he said.

But Mr. Kuchler said his plans were now back on course, despite three legal writs being filed against him in Bermuda Supreme Court during the last year.

Mr. Kuchler told The Royal Gazette he had no comment to make on the writs, except to cite them as “history”.

The writs were filed in May and December of last year, and the third writ earlier this month.

It is understood the writs - from Veronica Williams, Anton Straka and T&D Financial Services - may have come from investors and creditors seeking to either recoup monies invested in the project, after questions arose over whether the venture would take off, or for non-payment of fees related to Bermuda Star's incorporation.

The total amount of the debt being sought through the writs was not known, but it is understood they are in excess of $100,000.

Yesterday, Mr. Kuchler said the airline's funding was all private, that Government was not a shareholder and revealed that a chief financial officer, Mike Norton, had been hired for Bermuda Star. He said other key personnel were also in place, but declined to name them.

“There is no funding from Government. There is legislation in place that says they can contribute to enhancing and promoting (air) business but they cannot participate in funding,” he said.

Mr. Kuchler said Bermuda Air would operate flights between the Island and gateway cities in both the US and Europe. Flights to New York area airport Newark and Chicago are planned on a daily basis, while flights to Miami are to be three times a week, on a seasonal basis.

On the European side, Mr. Kuchler said the schedule would be three times a week to Manchester and Munich, and would be set to run on days that the Island was not serviced by the London to Bermuda British Airways flight.

A search of the Bermuda Star file at the Registrar of Companies listed the directors of the company as Mr. and Mrs. Kuchler.

Mr. Kuchler yesterday confirmed that both he and his wife were company directors, but declined to name the others had taken up spots on the company's board.