Delta spokesman said this week.

But returning passengers would have to overnight in Boston, the spokesman said.

Delta and Britain's Virgin Atlantic agreed on Tuesday to a north Atlantic alliance.

Starting in November, Delta will pay in advance for a fixed percentage of seats on Virgin flights from the United States to London in exchange for adding Delta's flight code on seven routes, the airlines said in a statement.

Code-sharing involves two airlines sharing their designator codes on interconnecting flights to give a single longer route in air travel booking systems.

The deal is subject to Government approvals.

Ms Alison Clements, a spokesman for Delta in Atlanta, Georgia, said "an excellent connection for Bermuda passengers'' would be one result of the deal.

They could buy Delta tickets to London's Gatwick Airport from Bermuda, connecting in Boston through seats Delta would purchase on Virgin's nightly flight from Boston to Gatwick, she said.

Delta's flight left Bermuda at 4.55 p.m. and arrived in Boston at 6.06 p.m., she said. The Virgin flight then left Boston at 8.20 p.m., and arrived at Gatwick at 7.50 a.m., she said. "That's an excellent connection for Bermuda passengers.'' But she agreed there was no easy connection on the return.

Virgin's flight left Gatwick at 3 p.m. and arrived in Boston at 5 p.m., she said. Delta's next flight did not depart Boston for Bermuda until 9 a.m. the next morning.

Unless the schedule was changed before November, "that would cause the passenger to overnight in Boston or find another way to get to Bermuda that evening,'' she said.

British Airways offers direct service to Gatwick from Bermuda on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. A Sunday flight is to be added for ten weeks starting on July 3.

Delta also gains access to London's Heathrow Airport in the Virgin deal, though not through Boston. Four Virgin routes operate out of Heathrow -- to New York JFK, Newark, Los Angeles and, beginning in May, San Francisco. "It fills a competitive void in Delta's transatlantic operations by giving us access to Heathrow for the first time and teams Virgin with a major U.S.

partner,'' Delta chairman Mr. Ron Allen said in a statement.

Virgin Atlantic's owner Mr. Richard Branson said the deal was a milestone in his airline's 10-year history.