Air travellers have already caught the Millennium Bug -- and started snapping up plane tickets for January 1, 2000.

Most major US airlines started taking reservations yesterday for tickets on New Year's Day in the 21st Century, a Saturday.

And several have already reported selling seats on flights to and from Bermuda.

The early sales have dampened fears that travellers would not fly around New Year because of the notorious Millennium Bug, the Y2K computer virus which threatens to stall systems operating on two-figure date codes.

All the airlines serving Bermuda say they will have solved their potential year 2000 computer glitches by December 31, 1999.

US Airways' spokesman David Castelveter said the airline had already sold tickets for January 1 travel between Bermuda and Philadelphia and Bermuda and Baltimore.

He added: "We are already Y2K compliant and we can guarantee that to those who made today's bookings to Bermuda.'' No Millennium fears from Bermuda flyers "We converted to an automated reservations and informations' system on December 5 last year and we are already operating on four-figure date codes, which means our equipment will be free from the bug.

"We expect a routine operation as we move into the Millennium.'' Delta Airlines spokesman Tracy O'Donnell said most airlines started selling January 1 seats yesterday because they can only hold 331 days' information on their computers.

He added: "We haven't compiled the figures yet so we're not sure of our demand for Bermuda.

"But most airlines operate a similar system which is why the year 2000 tickets are available now. Even so, today only January 1 can be booked.

Tomorrow it will be January 2 and so on.'' American Airlines' Bermuda General Manager Carole DeCouto said three seats had already been sold for the New York JFK flight to Bermuda, arriving at 10 p.m.

on January 1.

She added: "We haven't sold any seats out of Bermuda on New Year's Day yet, but it is still very early.'' Air Canada also said they had yet to receive bookings for Millennium Day travel to or from Bermuda.

But a spokeswoman for Continental Airlines, which started selling January 1 tickets last month, said: "Our 4.35 p.m. flight to Newark, New Jersey, on January 1 already has a large group booked on it.

"We have a group booking for 111 people on that flight, plus reservations for 14 regular passengers. The seats are going very quickly.'' And British Airways, who can book seats a full year in advance, also warned demand would soon heat up for year 2000 travel.

Bermuda General Manager Philip Troake said the January 1 flight to London's Gatwick airport already had 60 reservations.

He added: "So far, there's just one person booked on the flight coming from Gatwick. But the flight out to the UK is already proving popular.'' Mr. Troake said the airline was treating Y2K problems very seriously and he attended a meeting on hi-tech hitches with BA executives in New York on Wednesday.

"We have got a comprehensive, rigorous and long-standing Y2K programme in place and we are still in the process of working through it,'' he added.

"We also have contingency plans in place because we obviously don't just rely on our own equipment but also on our suppliers' equipment.

"For instance, we need to know we would be able to handle flights if the airport lost electricity, or communications, or X-ray machines.

"Our equipment will be compliant but nobody is scoffing the problem and everybody's treating it seriously. We are also in contact with all of our suppliers to ask for assurances.''