ZipX and International Bonded Courier (IBC) will go down in the history books as the first to import horses by air.

The companies were responsible for three horses flown into the Island yesterday. The horses were taken in IBC's new plane that began service last week. Until now, horses along with other livestock have been imported by cargo ship.

The horses, Flag, Wiriana and Royal Secret (fondly known as Trixie) were flown down in 90 minutes from Newark, New Jersey, and will go to different local owners.

During the flight, the horses were given special care by handler Arthur Amaya of Triton International. When they arrived, the animals were checked over by the Government veterinarian Dr. Jonathan Nesbitt and assistant Theresa Minors.

Glen Smith, C.E.O. of UPS, IBC and ZipX claimed their new plane will take business from the ships, saying: “To go by boat can take from two to four weeks before the animals are useable, but now they can be brought in one day and used the next. It's just better on the animals.”

The CEO said that there had been a need to upgrade their small prop plane to the larger 727 100 series plane due to an increase in business.

Mr. Smith said: “It was to the extent that we were not only filling up our plane, but using the commercial flights as well.”

He continued: “There has absolutely been an increase in business since September 11th in both documents and packages.”

Mr. Smith said that there was a connection between the additional security checks having to be done in the US and their increase in customers. He also linked the change to many restrictions being put on carriers, while their plane is not restricted.

The Postmaster General denied that mail is taking longer since September 11th.

Clevelyn Crichlow said: “As soon as we get the mail, we sort it, X-ray it, and send it right to the airport. How fast is that?”

He added: “If mail is taking any longer, it is being delayed only very slightly because of the X-rays that the US has requested us to do.”

When asked about IBC's claims that business is booming, Mr. Crichlow said: “I wouldn't think that is so. It shouldn't be all that different. They do have a plane now, but we have local planes that fly out everyday.”

He said that he could not take responsibility for any delays on the US side through additional checks, saying: “They are isolating some mail from certain jurisdictions and pumping it with radiation before sending it on.”

And it seems not only IBC has seen improvements in their courier business.

“People just aren't willing to wait a week for their mail anymore. They want it there by tomorrow morning”, said Steve Thomson, Manager of Mailboxes Unlimited.

Mr. Thomson added: “It's quite amazing that our business hasn't dropped off more, due to the increase in fax and e-mail usage over the past five years. It's because Bermuda business is rocking.”

Mr. Thomson said that Mailboxes Unlimited's business has stayed the same or marginally increased over the past year, despite the decrease in mail being sent overall. However, he was unwilling to comment about a possible connection to the steady state of his business and the complaints of a slower mail service.

Denise Reed, President of Sprint International Express also said: “There has not been an increase in courier mail, though we don't do a lot of documents. There has been an increase in freight going out. We used to ship maybe one time a week, now it's about three times.”