American Airlines paid just over $1,000 for an Airport emergency which cost Government around $20,000, it emerged yesterday.

But Airport chief Jack Gordon said the airfield was a 24-hour operation and was prepared for extra burdens on overtime and budgets.

He refused to blame the airline or call for compensation after the London-to-Miami jet, carrying 141 people, needed round-the-clock care in Bermuda for 48 hours.

The American Airlines Boeing 767-300 ran up around 900 hours of overtime at the Airport after it signalled an emergency and landed in Bermuda on January 12.

The bills, in the region of $20,000, have to be met by Government.

They include extra pay for Crash-Fire-Rescue workers, baggage handlers and terminal staff.

Airfield and terminal lighting and extra air conditioning also have to be weighed into the bill.

Airline paid $1,100 Mr. Gordon, general manager of Airport Operations, said: "The fact of the matter is that in general terms, we are an airport that's published as a 24-hour operation.

"We do a considerable amount of business with people who divert in here, particularly on long haul flights.

"For instance we had one just the other night -- a Lauda airline which came in en route from Milan to Mexico City because of adverse weather conditions.'' He said Bermuda was often lined up to handle aircraft diversions -- because it lies directly under the flight path of most transatlantic flights.

The American Airlines jet placed Bermuda on a full-scale emergency alert, with 35 firefighters, 15 fire trucks and an armada of Police cars and boats on standby for a crash.

The pilot radioed Bermuda with the message that his plane was flying on just one engine after a technical fault.

The second engine started firing again after a command from Bermuda's air traffic controllers when the plane was just 80 miles from the Island.

The plane stayed in Bermuda where it was checked over by engineers for two days, with spare parts being flown in before it returned to Miami.

And the only cost to American Airlines was the $1,100 landing fee and a small hourly parking charge for its two overnight stops on the airfield.

Mr. Gordon added: "We do have a budget and costs for unusual operations.

"It's quite often that pilots will radio in and say that a light has come on in the cockpit or they are unusually low on fuel and they want to divert in.

"On rare occasions, engines can be shut down and this is what happened in this particular case with the American Airlines flight. But the extra burdens on the Airport are part of our standard operating procedures. It can be costly in terms of overtime, particularly out of hours, and the extra costs of Customs and Immigration also have to be added in.

"We also have to pay for our duty officer to remain on and make sure the Crash-Fire-Rescue facilities are available.

"There are also our `sky-cap' baggage handlers, who need to be there, but we cannot complain because that's the cost of doing business.

"We do recoup some of the costs in other ways and we are certainly not in a position to ask the airline for any compensation.

"Some airports have certain surcharges, especially if they are not 24-hour operations.

"But this was an emergency, a properly declared emergency, and we're grateful we were able to help.''