among more than 80 Bermudians who have applied for new jobs at the Bermuda Airport.

"We've received some very, very good applications,'' said Mr. Don Parrish, the Bermuda project manager for Airport contractor Serco Aviation Services Inc. of Canada. Serco recently placed full-page job advertisements in The Royal Gazette .

The company, which will be paid $4.4 million a year to handle Bermuda's air operations for the next five years, is seeking seven air traffic controllers, 33 firefighters, 11 ground electronic workers, and 10 weather people.

How many Bermudians are hired immediately will depend on the number of qualified applicants received, but Serco wants to make the Airport 90 percent Bermudian by 1998. The company plans to provide training, both in Bermuda and abroad.

Most of the applications are in the area of air traffic control and crash, fire, and rescue, Mr. Parrish said. "The response was slow at the start, but it's really picked up. We're right on target.'' In the training area, four Bermudians will be chosen for the initial class of trainees, who will be sent to school in Canada, he said.

Mr. Parrish said interviews for firefighters and weather observers will be held in early January. Other interviews will be held in late January and early February, he said.

"Aviation is a very satisfying job,'' he said. "I think the people who do eventually enter the field will get a lot of personal satisfaction from it.''