A well established Canadian charter company has been given approval to begin air service between Toronto and Bermuda starting on September 11.

Tourism Minister David Dodwell made the announcement yesterday that Conquest Tours would provide a charter service through to May 10, 1998.

He said: "The decision was taken after we completed extensive analysis of the seat capacity available out of Canada over the past winter.

"There has been a disparity between the number of available seats and the demand from the market. It was apparent that people could not reach Bermuda simply because they could not book a seat when they needed one.'' This is because Air Canada -- the only carrier which offers scheduled service between Bermuda and Toronto -- used smaller aircraft on the route over the winter which resulted in less seats overall, said Mr. Dodwell.

He continued: "We have had an excellent relationship with Air Canada for over 50 years and we understand the demands being placed on their fleet due to changes in the airline industry which influenced their decision to use smaller planes on the Bermuda route.

"However, this has impacted our business as people cancel hotel bookings because they cannot get a seat and we have to rectify that situation.'' Conquest Tours will provide flights on Thursdays and Saturdays using aircraft with 168 seats. This increases the overall number of seats out of Canada to Bermuda by 36 percent and covers the period when 50 percent of Canadian travel to Bermuda occurs.

The Bermuda Hotel Association stayed in close contact with the Tourism Department through each step of the negotiations and were pleased with the result, added BHA president Dennis Tucker.