The first $49 flight from the US to Bermuda was less than a third full when it brought 52 visitors to the Island yesterday in what is hoped is that start of a revival of the air tourism for the country.

The charter flight departed Bermuda International Airport without any passengers as the service deal precludes Islanders being able to buy tickets to fly out to the US at the rock-bottom price .

Despite the Boeing 737-800 aircraft having a capacity for 161 passengers, Deputy Premier Dr. Ewart Brown said he was not overly disappointed that the inaugural flight had so many empty seats.

The Tourism Minister believes the next two months of the $49 one-way promotion will see higher uptake by visitors from Boston and New York.

The initiative has been subsidised by the Department of Tourism as well as hoteliers who have been asked to contribute $165 per booking.

Only passengers boarding in North America can take advantage of the cheap flights from TNT Vacations, which is chartering a plane from Xtra Airways to make the twice weekly flights between now and April 27.

Dr. Brown said he was surprised that the first flight had managed to bring as many as 52 visitors in view of the short amount of time that had been available to promote the flights, which are designed to stimulate visitor numbers during the traditionally sluggish winter months.

"I'm more impressed with the bookings that I understand are going quite well. I would not judge the success of it on this initial flight. I wish it had been a full flight, but that's all right," said Dr. Brown.

"We did not expect anymore. By the time this thing was totally packaged it actually only gave about maybe ten days lead time. The average booking time for Bermuda is six to eight weeks so we are hoping to overcome that with the outrageously low fare."

Dr. Brown said he was happy that the cheap flight initiative had got off the ground and he expected it had put a smile on the faces of hoteliers on the Island.

Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell said: "I'm not particularly concerned about the low numbers of passengers on the first flight. I support the concept and I think the numbers will build. It is a particularly good thing to have at this time of year when we want to generate extra business."

Mr. Dodwell said he was glad to hear that hoteliers had supported the initiative by proving some subsidy and he would like to know the level of the Government subsidy.

Yesterday's flight arrived from Boston and touched down shortly after 11 a.m. There will be another flight on Sunday from Boston.

As from next week the flight will fly from Boston to Bermuda then fly to JFK the same day to pick up more passengers and return to the Island.