in a bid to save the planned Germany-Bermuda air service from crashing before it leaves home.

Tourism's marketing director Mr. Peter Smith revealed yesterday that just ten percent of the seats on the proposed winter/summer '95 Condor flights had been booked.

He also admitted a contract between Bermuda and Condor, a Lufthansa subsidiary, was yet to be signed.

Launching of the weekly flight from Frankfurt to Bermuda was planned for May 2.

Despite the new uncertainty Mr. Smith remained confident Bermuda would still get the long-awaited new service, which finally provides the Island with a non-stop air link with Europe.

However, according to a Condor spokesman yesterday, the fate of the service hangs in the balance.

And phone calls to travel agents in Munich revealed that the proposed Condor service was not yet in their computer reservations system so they were not taking any bookings.

"We need a contract with a stamp on it and we don't have that,'' Mr.

Hannelope Tapf said from Condor headquarters in Frankfurt.

Mr. Smith responded: "The contract has been under discussion for ages -- I'm not sure who the gentleman spoken to was -- but it is being reviewed with a view to trying to make the service more efficient for both of us. Both they and we want it to happen -- there's no dispute about that. The issue is how best it can work.'' Options considered included a smaller airplane, however, that would mean increased costs for Condor because the craft would have to make a pit stop.

A 270-passenger 767 craft is currently planned.

Another option was "tagging Bermuda onto a service that's already there. That scenario could involve a plane going between Frankfurt and a point in the Caribbean, Florida (or) Mexico'', Mr. Smith said.

Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic had been mentioned as a second stop beyond Bermuda, he said.

Mr. Steven Tuckwell of the London Tourism office said although a Santo Domingo stop would cause the least amount of disruption, it would mean a five-hour increase in flying time.

But he added: "Most people who buy a holiday package are not interested in the flight details.'' Mr. Smith, insisting the Condor flight was in the Lufthansa reservations system accessible to tour operators everywhere so far except here, said he expected a final decision on the deal early next week.

He said the "weaker than expected'' bookings were a reflection of the German economy. "Long-haul bookings this year are soft,'' he said, adding it was not the destination that was putting off Germans. "Germans do not know Bermuda well enough. It takes many years to build up a destination.'' Chances that Condor will land here as planned on May 2 were "very good'' he believed, although, "in the airline industry you never know what will happen''.

Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge, who was in New York yesterday, earlier this week had confirmed negotiations were under way to establish a new route agreeable to both parties.

But he said reports that suggested the Condor flight would make its way to Bermuda via Santo Domingo were "premature''.

The weak bookings are in spite of heavy marketing in Europe over the last several months, including flying in dozens of German travel agents and journalists and a January trip to Frankfurt by Mr. Woolridge -- who caught the media's attention by braving the snow sporting yellow Bermuda shorts.