A so-called "boutique" airline which planned to start running luxury flights between Bermuda and London appears to have folded.

Fly First Class first touted plans to operate a route linking the Island with London Stansted and Wilmington, North Carolina, in October 2005. Its then-chief executive officer Darrell Richardson said the three-star service would use a 90-seat Boeing 767 plane and passengers would enjoy free meals and drinks and personal videos.

The Fort Lauderdale-based airline has said ever since that it has been awaiting government permission to launch the service, telling The Royal Gazette in May this year that it was in talks with UK operator Silverjet regarding the route.

Attempts this week to contact Fly First Class for an update have been unsuccessful and one travel agent in the States said the firm was understood to no longer be operating. Mr. Richardson said he no longer worked for the company.

The Florida telephone number listed on the airline's website is no longer in service and a man who answered its UK phone number said the company had shut up shop in Surrey several months ago.

Fly First Class' Bermuda representative could not be contacted for comment. The UK Civil Aviation Authority said in May that Fly First Class had not applied for permission to launch its service. L.F. Wade International Airport general manager Aaron Adderley said yesterday he had received no recent updates from the company.

Carl Paiva, chief executive officer at the Island's largest travel agency, C-Travel, which is listed as a travel partner on the website flyfirstclass.biz, said: "We were basically their appointed sales agent here when they were ready to sell. That was the extent of our relationship with them and we have heard nothing further from them."