Direct flights to Bermuda from Atlanta and Boston could be cut off as early as next week if pilots at Delta Air Lines go ahead with a threatened strike.

The pilots? union at the bankrupt airline says it has been given final approval for a $10 million grant to fund a strike from the Air Line Pilots? Association.

Pilots voted overwhelmingly for a strike last week over management plans to reject their contract and impose pay cuts. An arbitration panel must decide by Saturday whether to void the pilots? contract and the union has been authorised by its governing body to call a strike anytime after Monday.

Captain Lee Moak, chairman of the pilots? union, said: ?A strike grows more and more likely as our deadline looms without meaningful negotiations or results.

?We are prepared and we will strike if the company rejects the longstanding pilot contract.?

Hundreds of pilots will march on Delta headquarters in Atlanta today for what a union press release described as their last chance to ?send their message of resolve? to the company.

Delta tickets for travel between Bermuda and Atlanta and Boston after April 17 are still on sale but travel agents are advising passengers to purchase their tickets on a credit card.

Carl Paiva, chief executive officer of C-Travel, a Hamilton-based travel agency, said: ?We are still selling tickets but the clients are aware of the situation.

?What I recommend is that people use a credit card. A credit card sale will be protected by the credit card company. A cash sale will not be protected if the flight is cancelled.?

He said Delta?s financial strife ? the company has posted $12.3 billion in losses since 2000 ? was not deterring travellers from purchasing tickets for the US?s third largest carrier. ?Don?t forget all the others have been in bankruptcy, except American Airlines,? he said. ?It doesn?t put people off.?

He added that alternative routes to Atlanta and Boston are available via Newark Airport with Continental Airlines.

Bermuda Airport General Manager James Howes could not be contacted for comment last night.