Airport bosses are hoping Government talks aimed at bringing in new flights will be a success.

Management at Kindley Field, St. George's said they believed the facility was under-utilised and they wanted to maximise its use by encouraging more passenger flights during the daytime.

They have the capacity to more than double the amount of people that pass through the airport -- with improvements increasing departure space and available technology.

But general manager Marshall Minors and his team are aware that their aim of increasing flights at off-peak periods is a tall order when dealing with the huge airline companies.

"If we can get airlines to operate outside of peak hours, that is 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., then we have lots of capacity,'' said Mr. Minors.

"But it is difficult to get airlines to come at quiet times.

"We have got the capacity. We would like our resident carriers to increase their destinations.'' During high season, most of Bermuda's air traffic is condensed in a five-hour period between 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. -- leaving massive lulls in the action when the facilities are redundant.

The arrival and departure times are driven by the airlines' desire to provide their customers with agreeable schedules, good connections to other flights, and in order to have their equipment operating as much as possible.

In addition, with most of the flights coming from popular east coast gateways, the Bermuda arrival and departure time is often dictated by which valuable time slot airlines are able to gain in the US.

"We are trying to accommodate every request that we are able to, even taking charters at peak times,'' added Mr. Minors.

At present during a busy day Bermuda departures processes around 800 people a day, but with new equipment installed, Thomas Dunstan, supervisor of terminal services, said he believed they could easily cope with between 1,500 and 2,000 a day.

The new 40-position check-in facility was designed so each carrier can use any screen at any time of the day.

Although there have been complaints that at peak times there were not enough terminals, Mr. Dunstan said it was often the carriers reluctance to move from spots they have always operated from that causes congestion.

Airline employees will often set up more computers than they need, bringing in more staff as passengers arrive to check-in -- but effectively prohibiting other airlines from using those positions in the meantime.

And, he said, terminals used by British Airways -- only three times a week at present -- are left empty because carriers were reluctant to move too far away from their normal positions. Because the system was "common user'' it allowed any carrier to come in and set up within a few minutes.