Swift reaction from the Ministry of Tourism to the issue of high airfares is starting to show results just days after the concerns were publicly raised.

Bermuda International Airport General Manager Jim Howes said yesterday that US Airways have brought down fares on flights from New York and Boston to Bermuda into the month of June. It is unclear whether fares will remain decreased after June, but Government is meeting with US Airways again next week in an on-going process, he said.

Other airlines have said they are still evaluating their reservations, Mr. Howes added. More news on those airlines is hoped for within the next two weeks.

Hoteliers met with Tourism and Transport Minister Ewart Brown on the issue last week, Bermuda Alliance for Tourism (BAT) executive director Wayne Smith said yesterday. “Within minutes of that meeting, the Minister had met and formed a game plan to deal with the issue,” he said.

Bermuda Hotel Association (BHA) head Mike Winfield also noted the “instant” reaction to hoteliers' concerns. “We had results in what, four days? They are not all that we want - but they are results.”

Last week the Ministry and Dr. Brown sent a letter to four of the Island's major airline partners - Continental, US Airways, Delta and American Airlines - asking them to reconsider their fares to Bermuda. The letter expressed “serious concerns at the unprecedented high airfares to Bermuda from key US gateway cities this summer, which are now having a dramatic, adverse impact on advance hotel bookings”.

Though airline visitors to the Island increased over the first quarter of 2005, the BHA has expressed particular concerns about bookings from July onwards.

Yesterday Mr. Winfield said that leisure bookings are down, “probably in the single digits, close to double digits”, but that the downfall varies from property to property.

“We react to trends,” he explained. The trend showed that bookings were down for the summer season, and Dr. Brown and the Ministry of Tourism reacted accordingly, he said.

Though Mr. Howes admitted on Monday night that response to the request had so far not been encouraging, he said yesterday that the news from US Airways was uplifting. “We are moving in the right direction.”

At a press conference at the BAT yesterday he said the Ministry's job was to ensure the airlines get the message “loud and clear” that danger flags are flying for bookings in July and August.

He emphasised that Government wants to continue working in partnership with the airlines, ruling the idea of taking away certain concessions for flying to Bermuda as “unproductive”. However, he added, “we have to constantly hammer to them” the idea that “this is in their interest” - if airfares remain so alarmingly high, fewer and fewer people will fly the Bermuda routes.

“We are not in the habit of crying wolf,” he added, saying that when Bermuda did raise such concerns with the airlines they seemed to pay attention.

“We are not asking for special favours,” Mr. Winfield added. “We are just asking them to look at Bermuda and allow us to be competitive.”

Lowering airfares does not mean that Bermuda will lose the “high-end” luxury travellers who frequent the Island, he added. Cambridge Beaches, for example, has been surprised at the number of guests who arrive on low-cost carrier USA 3000. “An airline seat is generally an airline seat ... However much a person is worth, they are looking for value.”

It is generally agreed that competition from such low-cost carriers remains the best way to decrease airfares to Bermuda overall, with hoteliers throwing their support behind Dr. Brown and the Tourism Ministry in their efforts to increase the service of such carriers to Bermuda.

USA3000 will be increasing their service to Bermuda with two new flights to Philadelphia this summer, while the long-hoped for JetBlue is still expected to start service to Bermuda in 2006.