American Airlines' decision to operate a Boston flight will improve airline service to the Island and possibly heralds a Miami to Bermuda route.

"Having American plan to serve Bermuda out of Boston has triggered an immediate competitive response,'' said Tourism Minister David Dodwell.

"US Air have moved to strengthen their position in New England by planning to operate one-stop service out of Hartford.

"And on the distribution front, a fight is shaping up between two of Bermuda's top wholesalers, Go-Go and Certified, over market share for American and Delta respectively.'' Mr. Dodwell added: "American's decision to return to Boston is a ringing endorsement of Bermuda for both consumers and the retail travel trade inasmuch as the airline is generally viewed as one of the premier US carriers.

"I believe this will help us get a Miami route as it shows airlines are ready to contribute and invest in Bermuda.'' Mr. Dodwell said American Airlines were interested in setting up the Miami to Bermuda run before but did not have enough equipment to pull it off.

However, it had recently ordered almost three dozen aircraft which could make Miami to Bermuda route feasible in 1998.

But if the Department of Tourism had not approached American Airlines about filling the void left by US Air's pull-out then nothing would have ever happened, added Mr. Dodwell.

He said the North American sales department aggressively went after American Airlines immediately upon hearing the news from US Air and were told that American Airlines would never have considered doing the run if they had not been approached.

The service begins on March 23 and will run to the end of October which is longer than US Air provided the service and American Airlines will use a 757 which has 192 seats.

This translates to 300 more seats a week than US Air's service -- a 26 percent increase -- continued Mr. Dodwell.

Mr. Dodwell said: "Whilst we will have fewer seats in total, a better distribution of seats and an improved competitive situation in our top two markets will work in our favour and have positive long term implications for Bermuda.'' Citing US Air's recent pull-out of the Boston to Bermuda route, Mr. Dodwell added that airlines needed to operate profitably to remain involved in a route and failure to do so would see them remove their assets on short notice.

"Losing some capacity, therefore, as we will in 1997, is not necessarily a bad thing,'' he said.

Mr. Dodwell added that US Air nearly stopped their LaGuardia to Bermuda run last year when an excess capacity situation through Kiwi International Air Line's service resulted in low loads for them.

The fall of Kiwi when they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 30 will help create a better balance between the supply and demand for seats, he continued.

Dodwell hopes for Miami route This could lead to a second Delta Air Lines' flight out of Atlanta on weekends during the summer in an attempt to capture the local traffic created last year by Kiwi.

And while there will not be Kiwi service from the Midwest and US Air will not originate its Charlotte service in Chicago, the area will be served by connecting flights from US Air and Continental.

Elsewhere, the southeast will receive direct service from US Air with Raleigh/Durham and Orlando flights coming to Bermuda through Philadelphia and Charlotte respectively.

Meanwhile, if Kiwi jets were ever to make a return to airports, Mr. Dodwell said he felt they would not take on anything more than their core routes which did not include Bermuda.