The chief executive of a new private-jet airline said that growth of the island’s aviation industry is positive for Bermuda.

Lawrence Scott, the chief executive of ScottsCraft, the umbrella company of Bermuda Direct Air Service, was speaking of the opportunities for Bermuda with the formation of his airline along with BermudAir.

Mr Scott said: “When you look at what we are doing, you put us together and look at how we are compared to the Bahamas, America, the Middle East … we are able to not just be comparable but also to be competitive.

“I think that we punch above our weight as a country. We are being patriotic and really trying to put Bermuda’s best foot forward in a totally different industry that we haven’t done before.

“This is bigger than just the nine parishes of Bermuda. This is on a global scale.”

Bermuda Direct Air Service offers direct business-class flights via private jet to the Dominican Republic and plans to expand its network to include routes to Jamaica, St Kitts, Barbados, Trinidad and Cayman.

BermudAir offers business, economy and economy light flights to Fort Lauderdale, New York and Boston.

MalaikAir hopes to link Bermuda to Ghana with a direct flight while helping to transform Bermuda into a transit hub for the Caribbean.

Mr Scott said it is important that Bermuda is seen as an attractive business and tourism destination.

“As Bermuda Direct Air Service and BermudAir expand the offering for our visitors, I think that our tourism product needs to expand with it — we need to offer more.” he said.

“Look at the changing transport landscape as well as the tourism landscape. We have our all-business-class service going to a market of 44 million people in the Caribbean, and then you have the East Coast.

“We need to market Bermuda to the Caribbean — our National Tourism Plan does not speak about the Caribbean.”

Mr Scott said he is a proponent of Bermuda gaining full membership to the Caribbean Community, adding: “When we talk about Caricom, it is quickly spoken of as the bogeyman. Corporate Bermuda has been down there for a long time. Colonial, Argus, the Bank of Butterfield — all these legacy companies have a presence in the Caribbean.

“Why is it good for corporate Bermuda and not good for tourism? Yet we celebrate carnival, we celebrate reggae music, we celebrate the culture ... With being a fully fledged member of Caricom comes the resources, connections and economic benefits.”

Mr Scott said there is more potential to open up a supply chain between Bermuda and the Caribbean, adding: “We have space in our planes to put cargo. We would open our cargo bays up to young entrepreneurs.

“Caricom can help facilitate government making sure it does business. Government can’t do it all.

“What happens is the government is doing its job in creating the environment where job creation and affordable living is favourable, but you have corporate Bermuda that takes advantage of it. We can’t force the business, so the only way to do it is introduce competition.

“Then you can reduce the cost of living one item at a time.”