ELTA Air Lines is to increase its daily service between Atlanta and Bermuda, offering a second flight as of May 26.

Tourism and Transport Minister Ewart Brown made the announcement at a press conference yesterday, saying the added service would increase the airline's daily capacity by 64 per cent ? the highest it has been since 2000.

"I'm pleased to announce today that Delta Air Lines will be adding a second daily Atlanta-Bermuda flight this summer, beginning on May 26," he said.

"There will be a 150-seat Boeing 737 arriving at Bermuda International Airport at 8 p.m. and departing Bermuda at 8.30 a.m. for convenient connections in Atlanta. This represents a significant increase in Delta's Atlanta service, offering both morning and afternoon flights from which to choose.

"It is a 64 per cent increase in daily capacity or airlift. That is to say, instead of one daily Bermuda-Atlanta Boeing 757, we will soon have two daily 737s for an airlift increase from 183 seats to 300 seats."

Dr. Brown added that the new service would also be of benefit as it would enable greater flexibility to travellers.

"Along with more capacity, this move will offer much more flexible flight connections at Atlanta's airport with a new afternoon departure from Atlanta for Bermuda. Likewise, the morning service arriving at Atlanta from Bermuda will provide a wide choice of good connections for the traveller returning home and for Bermudians travelling abroad."

The additional service showed "Delta's confidence in Bermuda", the Minister said, adding that it "represents the most daily lifts to Atlanta that Delta has provided here since the year 2000".

He added that it was quite possible the additional flight was a reaction to the success of American Airline's Bermuda-Miami flight, introduced last year.

Similarly, he pointed out, it was only a short while after the recent announcement that JetBlue would begin offering service to Bermuda, that both Continental and American Airlines said they would offer lower fares to the island.

"I think that Delta has studied the market. The airlines watch each other very carefully and I think that everyone in the business has seen the tremendous success of the Bermuda-Miami flight. And I wouldn't be surprised if Delta's move has to do with trying to catch some of the lift going south.

"It seems as though hardly a week goes by where we don't have some change in the airlift for Bermuda or, even more importantly, the cost of getting to and from Bermuda.

"You will know that in the last 72 hours, both American Airlines and Continental Airlines have announced their lower fares, which we believe is in response to the plans that Jet Blue announced last week."