Premier Ewart Brown again stressed the importance of Bermuda maintaining its multimillion-airline registry, which the UK Government is threatening to close down.

Yesterday he met with senior members of local law firms who register foreign aircraft with Bermuda Aviation Registry.

And Government reiterated it would continue to hire more people at the Department of Civil Aviation, which runs the registry, to meet international requirements.

"I have just completed a very important and most helpful meeting with representatives of the various law firms that do business with the registry," Dr. Brown said, introducing senior lawyers from CD&P and Appleby law firms.

"Without going into details of the meeting, I am even more encouraged than ever that we must do everything that we can to preserve this registry for Bermuda because of what it means to us as a jurisdiction where good and prudent business is done."

Julie McLean, head of the asset finance group at CD&P, said it was reassuring to know Government was going to bat for an area of business that generates profits within her firm.

"It is not just the aircraft registry aspects [that we earn money from]," she said. "The clients we represent are large banks, lenders and the aircraft themselves, when they bring a register to us it puts Bermuda on the map and that leads to other types of legal work."

Tim Counsell, a Partner at Applyby, added: "It is encouraging to have a meeting like this, knowing the Premier is doing all he can to support the registry.

"It is not one of the most glamorous parts of our international business but it is an important part of it and it keeps a lot of people busy working."

The Premier visited Russia last week in a bid to help save the registry and he will also hold talks with Governor Sir Richard Gozney on the issue.

The registry generated $16 million in revenue last year and is expected to generate $19 million this year. In the last seven years the number of planes registered locally has risen from 140 to 500.

Many of those planes are western-built aircraft that operate in Russia and are financed by US companies. Those companies choose the Bermuda registry because they are more confident in the Island's regulatory framework, which makes it easier for them to retrieve the plane should the operator default on the contract. Some companies also see a tax advantage to registering in Bermuda, according to the Department of Civil Aviation.

The fact that many of the planes are Russian is a sticking point for the UK Department of Transport.

Eleven years ago the UK agreed under an "entrustment" to allow Bermuda to run its registry. The Premier said they have now singled out an agreement between the Bermuda registry and Russian Aviation Authority as a concern. Under the agreement Bermuda has oversight of certain safety regulations for Russian planes registered here.

He said the UK Department of Transport has decided they find it "hard to accept" Bermuda's ongoing operation of the register. In particular they said they are "not clear" how the relationship between Bermuda and Russia works.

The Premier said the UK has also raised concerns over Bermuda's registry being a "revenue raising business", although it is not clear why the UK has taken issue with this.

According to the Opposition the UK's concerns are based on a less than favourable audit of the Department of Civil Aviation by an international organisation.

In 2009 the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) audit concluded Bermuda did not have a sufficient number of technical staff to effectively fulfil its safety oversight responsibilities. While the registry has more than tripled in size over the last seven years the number of staff employed had only risen by one at the time of the audit.

As the UK is the actual signatory of the ICAO agreement, they have questioned whether Bermuda is living up the standards required by the international group.

But yesterday Government said it was aware of the staffing concerns and is already looking at ways to meet the registry's needs.

Senator Marc Bean told the Upper House: "Government was aware that resources were stretched prior to the ICAO audit and had placed restrictions on the growth of the registry for a period of five months.

"During this period Government provided support to the Department of Civil Aviation to increase the number of contracted inspectors and developed a plan to hire temporary staff as an interim measure."

He added that four temporary positions were created in 2009 and four additional contracted inspectors have been approved in the past six months. An additional four temporary positions will be added this year. Government has also approved a strategic plan.

He added: "The ICAO has accepted all the action plans submitted in response to the audit findings."