While two local airlines are set to reduce their scheduled flights at the beginning of September, spokespersons for Continental and USAirways yesterday denied that the move was in response to declining passenger loads on the Bermuda routes.

Continental Airlines will be dropping from two Newark to Bermuda flights per day down to one as of next Monday.

Historically the switch from the Summer to Autumn flight schedule has been made in late September. But yesterday a Continental spokeswoman in the United States told The Royal Gazette the move was being made right on schedule.

She said the reduction is ''a standard seasonal adjustment" which had been planned and had nothing to do with low flight loads.

And she said the two daily flights will resume next Spring.

But a flight industry insider said last night that all route decisions are "market driven" and while the airline may be sticking to its previously developed plan for this year, it was unlikely that the move was unrelated to plummeting air arrivals.

Meanwhile USAirways will cease to fly its Charlotte-Bermuda and New York-Bermuda routes as of next Wednesday.

The two routes are normally dropped by the airline in October, USAirways station manager Earl Basden told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

But the switch is being made on September 9 this year because the airline is diverting aircraft to seven new locations in the Caribbean, he said.

Mr. Basden said the switch had always been planned and was not based on poor flight numbers. New routes include Barbados, St. Kitts, St. Lucia and the Bahamas.