month after take-off.

Island Aviation has been chartered by international business people eight times for flights to the eastern seaboard of the United States.

Director Mark Byrne said the company was also on course for providing Bermuda with its only commercial air ambulance service.

He said he hoped to secure an agreement with Government and the insurance companies to provide the air ambulance deal.

Corporate passengers have been willing to pay $2,375 an hour for the craft, which has been chartered on flights to Delaware, New York, Bradley Field, Connecticut and Boston.

The company has started up with a single IAI Westwind II, which was purchased in the US and is capable of taking six passengers.

It has a flight range of 2,800 miles, making Caracas, the Cayman Islands, Denver, Toronto and Chicago accessible.

Mr. Byrne, a pilot who works for West End Capital in Hamilton, told The Royal Gazette : "Things are going as well as, or better than, expectations and we're looking to be fairly busy the second half of June.

"The first target was to get the executive aeroplane to break even and three months after we would be looking to get contracts on air ambulance, and I think we are on target for that.

"At the end of July we are hoping to get to the agreement stage with insurance companies and Government, and that remains a realistic target.

"If we get the agreement, then two months after that, at the end of summer, we will be up and running.

"We've got 75 percent of the medical equipment required and the nursing coordinator. Once we get the agreement signed we would need to buy the second round of medical equipment.

"We're still early in the operation and we had a lot of upfront costs, and we are away from turning a profit.

"I don't think it will be a profitable year, but month to month profitability at the end of the year would be a reasonably good result.''