The first new airline to be set up in Bermuda for decades yesterday applied to run new flights direct to mainland Europe and the United States.

Bermuda Star Limited has filed an application to fly direct to Cologne, Germany, Manchester, England, Newark, New Jersey, Orlando, Florida, and Chicago.

If the application is successful, and the airline has proper funding, it will open up valuable connection hubs in northern England, and Florida, and establish the first direct scheduled flights to mainland Europe.

The move was welcomed yesterday by Bermuda Hotel Association (BHA) as a step to address Bermuda's traditional problems of expensive flights, lack of competition, and limited routes.

Leopold Kuchler, the Austrian honorary consul in Bermuda, and his wife Cynthia, applied to have Bermuda Star incorporated as an Island company in May this year.

It is not known who else is involved in the airline and Mr. Kuchler, who also owns Vienna Guest Apartments in Warwick, remained tight-lipped yesterday.

He told The Royal Gazette: "When I have a comment I will have my chief executive officer call you."

The application to the Air Transport Licensing Board, which appeared in yesterday's Royal Gazette, states that the airline plans to fly daily to Newark and Chicago, three times a week to Manchester, three times a week to Cologne, and twice a week to Orlando on a seasonal basis.

If the application is approved, Bermuda Star's Manchester flight will challenge British Airway's monopoly of direct services from the United Kingdom to the Island - with the prospect of cheaper fares. BA flies from London Gatwick to Bermuda.

It would also give the Island a direct flight to mainland Europe, although tourism experts said they would have preferred the German hub airport of Frankfurt to Bermuda Star's proposal for Cologne.

Michael Winfield, chairman of the BHA's airline committee, said yesterday: "This is interesting. It has long been an objective of the BHA and Bermuda Alliance for Tourism to increase frequency of services and broaden the gateways to Bermuda.

"Therefore, any party that shows capability and interest in bringing new flights is of interest to us. Manchester is a desirable gateway. I'm not so sure Cologne offers the connectibility we were looking for out of Europe. Frankfurt would have been ideal as a European hub. Chicago is certainly of interest to us, but similar to Cologne, I would have preferred Miami to Orlando.

"Any entity that is credible that can bring in additional services and hopefully put pressure on the price of tickets to Bermuda, is advantageous.

"I was aware of this being talked about, but I didn't know any formal application had been made. We would like to investigate it more and to talk to them."

The application states that Bermuda Star will use Boeing 757-200 jets for the Newark and Orlando flights, and Boeing 767-200ER craft for Manchester, Cologne, and Chicago.

Tourism experts were wracking their brains yesterday to try to remember the last time an airline was formed in Bermuda, or an airline applied to run scheduled services from the Island.

Condor Airlines ran a charter service from Frankfurt to Bermuda then the Dominican Republic in 1995, but it folded in 1996 due to poor numbers.

Philip Troake, BA's Bermuda manager, said yesterday: "We've always welcomed competition and in fact we have intense competition in almost every market we serve." When asked if a challenge on direct flights from the UK, would result in cheaper prices, he said: "That would be speculative. I can't comment until something concrete is presented."