this summer because of lack of demand, it was confirmed yesterday.

It is the second seasonal flight to the Island that has been pulled in the past year due to a lack of passengers.

The decision is a blow to the struggling tourism industry because the late afternoon flight allowed vacationers from the west coast of the US to reach Bermuda on the same day by flying first to the Atlanta hub.

But Tourism Minister David Allen explained the flight took customers away from both of Delta's morning flight from Boston and the afternoon flight from Atlanta.

In September, TWA dropped its twice weekly flight from the mid-west city of St. Louis early and announced it would not be renewing it this year.

Delta launched the daily 4 p.m. service from Atlanta on a Boeing 757 carrying 188 passengers last April to complement its other daily flight to the Island on a larger Boeing 767.

The airline announced last year that it was pleased with the results for the additional service -- running from April to October -- but said it was too early to say whether it would be renewed this year. But yesterday Delta spokeswoman Christine Frias confirmed the service would not be running this year.

She told The Royal Gazette : "We are cancelling the second flight, which was seasonal from April to October but we are going to continue with the daily 767 year round.

"Given the current demand in the market we felt that the wide-bodied plane met the needs of the consumers in the market.

"We always continue to monitor the market and if we feel there is the need to go back with the seasonal flight there is nothing to say we won't be back.'' The second Delta flight was hailed as a major boost for tourism because it would open up Bermuda to the US west coast and to other worldwide travellers who came to the Atlanta hub.

"The second later afternoon flight that operated a smaller aircraft on a seasonal basis only last summer increased Bermuda-bound air passenger traffic out of Atlanta by some 5,000 persons,'' Mr. Allen said, when contacted yesterday.

"However, Delta became aware that some of this traffic consisted of traffic diverted from its Boston flight,'' he continued, "which during summer months competes with seasonal service from American Airlines, as well as from its existing earlier flight.'' While passengers from the mid-western US used both cities to get to Bermuda via Delta, Mr. Allen explained "Delta has been looking at total load factors for all of its Bermuda services from a `global' perspective''.

He added the airplane's availability arose out of "an opportunity presented'' by the off-season Aspen flight.

Mr. Allen downplayed the flight's loss, suggesting that with reduced hotel beds in recent years the number of airline seats and hotel beds must be balanced.

But those airline seats must also take into consideration the amount of travel by locals and business travel to and from the Island. "Bermuda must be careful to position any new flights with a view to available hotel bed inventories,'' he explained, "until new hotel bed inventory facilitated by the Hotel Concessions Act 2000 come on line.'' Mr. Allen admits there will now be "considerable'' demand for seats during long holiday weekends.

David Allen