Airport's landing fees by more than 900 percent.

The 1995 Civil Airports Landing Fees and Validation Act, which will up the 30 cents per 1,000 pounds of aircraft that the US military used to charge to $2.80 per 1,000 pounds, was approved without objection in the Upper House of Parliament.

Prefacing the vote on the bill, Sen. Larry Scott of the United Bermuda Party said the fees were a necessary measure if Bermuda was to successfully operate the Airport that departing American forces handed over in June.

"Because of the way the US government ran the Airport,'' he said, "there was no need for (it) to recoup costs through landing fees. That has now changed, and we decided that one of the best routes was to charge landing fees, a tax, essentially, on the user.'' At the same time, Sen. Scott said the new landing fees were still lower than they were at many US and Caribbean airports, including New York, Miami, Cancun and Barbados.

Although the bill was passed by the Senate unanimously, some Senators raised questions about Government's handling of the increase.

Sen. Norma Astwood (Ind.) said the Airport had been "an easy target'' in Government's continuing search for revenue, while Sen. Alf Oughton (Ind.) wondered if the Transport Ministry might not have negotiated a better deal with the airlines that serve Bermuda.

"I know that Sen. Scott referred to `tough negotiations','' Sen. Oughton said, "but I still think the airlines made out very well with this.'' In other Senate developments yesterday, Senators unanimously approved new draft regulations in the 1986 USA-Bermuda Tax Convention, an agreement that facilitates tax investigations involving the two countries.

Yesterday's approval "fine-tuned'' the procedure by which investigators conduct their investigations and examine witnesses.

Also yesterday, Senators gave unanimous assent to the 1995 Government Fees Amendment.

The amendment allows Government to raise the tax that real estate purchasers pay in Bermuda from 20 percent of the total sale value to 22 percent.