Government is to court five US airlines in the coming weeks in a bid to bring more planes to the skies over Bermuda, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown will lead a delegation later this month to meet "the decision-makers" at Continental, US Airways, Jet Blue, and American Airlines while United will be visited in November.

The whistle-stop tour of the airlines is part of the Government's strategy to increase flights to the Island by three a year, Dr. Brown revealed.

"We are continuing our campaign to increase airline traffic at Bermuda International Airport," said Dr. Brown, who also held meetings with senior executives at British Airways and Virgin in January during a visit to the UK.

"There is no magic number but if we can add two or three flights annually, in addition to increased charter flights, we would be limited only by the ability of our guest bed capacity to handle the people.

"Our approach is non-traditional and we cut right to the heart of the issue - 'We want you to fly into Bermuda. Here are the facts about our country, our people, our economy, our hotels and our beautiful airport. What will it take to have you say yes?'"

Dr. Brown will be leading the delegations of up to seven people, five from the Transport Ministry and two from Tourism, and is confident that the airlines will be receptive to the Government's publicity machine as they have not yet taken into account the shift in emphasis away from tourism in Bermuda to potentially more lucrative markets.

"The airlines have only one consideration when deciding whether to fly to Bermuda - financial viability," continued Dr. Brown, who once again slammed fares to the country as "ridiculously high".

"Many carriers were basing their decisions about Bermuda on old data - that our travellers were 90 percent tourists. But we have been able to share with them the fact that our passengers are a third tourist, a third business and a third Bermudian residents, and they are willing to take a new look at us based on the new information.

"They love our number one airport, they don't complain about our landing fees and they are generally happy. A few have mentioned that our hotels are expensive for overnight stays but the hotel association has promised to work with the airlines on that."

Although Bermuda International Airport is at its busiest between 10.30 a.m. and 3 p.m., there is sufficient capacity in the afternoon before the evening flights come in to allow for the potential increase Government is gunning for.

James Howes, general manager at the airport, confirmed that the airport is capable of handling the extra numbers.

"In terms of volume of passengers, we have fewer coming through the airport than we did four or five years ago," revealed Mr. Howes, one of the delegation travelling with Dr. Brown on the tour of the United States carriers.

"There is definitely capacity for additional flights at the airport. I have been working very closely with Minister Brown on this and we have been talking to many carriers recently and have plans to in the future."

But Dr. Brown warned there would have to be some infrastructure changes on the Island before any increase could come, both inside and outside the airport.

"We must be ready to handle this additional volume," he said.

"That is we would need additional staff inside the airport itself and we would also need a reliable transport system - taxis - to move the passengers.

"If the airport is to become busier, the rest of our system must become busier."