position to make money from its London-Bermuda route, but they have created an apparent bottleneck for tourism operatives trying to develop the UK/European markets.

Consultants at Bermuda Tourism's London office say the twice weekly flights to the Island do "not provide sufficient capacity'' for the demand they're generating.

The consultants were unable to say whether Bermuda was losing business with the two-flight schedule. However, they reported BA's summer flights are already booked to near capacity and that many customers were forced to fly to the Island through New York -- a connection considered difficult to sell.

BA officials appear in no rush to add a third weekly flight. The two-flight plan was only launched this spring as a last ditch effort to end huge losses on the route -- $10 million and $19 million in the preceding fiscal years.

The earliest time for any decision will be after this year's peak business season in the autumn. BA wants to study the year's performance with two weekly flights to see what the route will take without losing money.

Mr. Stephen Tuckwell, a former BA manager in Bermuda and now a consultant to Bermuda Tourism in London, pointed a finger at what he sees as a bottleneck for the Island's No. 1 industry.

"The bad news on the BA situation is that it leaves us with so little room to sell,'' he said. "Two flights a week does not provide sufficient capacity. We are short this year.

"People given the choice do not want to link through New York. This imposes a constraint on market growth.'' His views were backed up by Mr. Derek Brightwell, Bermuda Tourism's London-based director.

"It's true we want more than two flights a week, particularly through the busier period from April to October,'' he said. With bookings for the next few months already at a healthy 65 percent, BA flights are beginning to sell out.

Flights in May were 90 percent full.

"There are no reports that we are turning business away at the moment,'' local manager Mr. Phillip Troake said. "We have had difficulty getting people seats at the cheapest levels. But for the summer, flights are still well undersold.'' In the meantime, moves are afoot that may have the effect of off-setting any London bottleneck for would-be Bermuda visitors. US airlines are beginning to pick up slack through London-New flights. Mr. Brightwell figures that up to 30 percent of all European/UK visitors to the Island now fly through East Coast connections, particularly through American Airlines same-day connections.

"We've had some benefit through improved links between Great Britain and the US and between the US and Bermuda,'' he said. "To make the New York option more attractive, we've been pushing two-centre holidays with a weekend in New York followed by Bermuda.

"A number of operators are doing that and we're going to expand that to the continent next year, in Germany and Switzerland.

"Everyone in the trade is aware of the two options to Bermuda and that if they can't exercise their business through one they will sell the other.''