Bargain flights between London, Bermuda and New York will soon be on sale, the managing director of low-cost Zoom Airlines insisted yesterday.

Jonathan Hinkles told The Royal Gazette on March 26 that he hoped to launch ticket sales for the twice-weekly flights in a fortnight. Yesterday, he admitted the Scottish company was not quite ready to start selling the flights but that it was "not far off".

"It's all still moving forward," he said. "I don't think it will be long. We are fairly close to where we need to be."

Zoom - which describes itself as the UK's first dedicated low-fares, long-haul airline - already has permission from Bermuda's Air Transport Licensing Board but still needs approval from the UK's Civil Aviation Authority.

CAA spokesman Jonathan Nicholson said: "Zoom has applied and is being actioned. The timescales for processing will

really be down to the speed the applicant can get everything in place and provide us with info."

If Zoom is successful, it will give travellers their first alternative to British Airways on the direct London Gatwick to Bermuda route. It will also provide competitive fares for travelling from the Island to New York JFK.

Meanwhile, another airline hoping to start flights from London to the Island said this week it was still in negotiations with UK operator Silverjet. Fly First Class executive vice president Gabrielle Griswold said she could not say any more until a deal was signed between the two companies.

Fly First Class, a luxury "boutique airline", has been trying to get the five-times-a-week flights from London Stansted off the ground since November 2005.

Its website www.flyfirstclass.biz says the service - which would continue to Wilmington, North Carolina - is due to start in the first quarter of 2007.

But Mr. Nicholson said: "Fly First Class has not applied to the CAA for a licence."