United Airlines has added a Bermuda-Washington service to its summer schedule, Tourism and Transport Minister Ewart Brown confirmed yesterday.

The three-times-a-week, non-stop service to Dulles International Airport will start on June 8 and run until September 5.

Dr. Brown said the deal, which adds to United?s existing Chicago service from Bermuda, means jet-setters will now have access to regular flights to all three Washington DC and Baltimore area airports ? Washington Reagan National, Baltimore/ Washington International Airport and Dulles.

The new flight will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and Dr. Brown said it would be served by a 150-seat Airbus 320 plane. Arriving at Bermuda International Airport at 12.46 p.m., it will depart at 2.30 p.m. and arrives back in the US capital at 3.55 p.m.

He said the announcement from America?s second biggest air carrier marked a ?major increase in air service to Bermuda?.

?This continues my ministry?s steady growth of airlift to Bermuda as a key part of our overhaul and revitalisation of tourism.?

Jim Howes, general manager at Bermuda International Airport, said the total weekly flights to Bermuda had increased from 117 in 2004 to 130 this year.

This total includes low-cost carrier Jet Blue Airways, from New York?s JFK, and Delta, from Atlanta, bringing weekly 14 flights each to the Island this year.

Mr. Howes said that bigger planes were being used by some carriers. Examples included American Airlines? mid-day service out of JFK, and US Airways? morning flight from Philadelphia, with Boeing 767s rather than smaller 737s now heading to Bermuda.

Nearly 19,000 seats per week were now flying into the Island from all destinations, Mr. Howes confirmed.

Dr. Brown, asked about the impact JetBlue?s lower fares would have on traditional carriers, said that competition was the norm in the US market ? and had already led to ticket prices falling.

He said that competition on the key New York route had already led to American and Continental matching JetBlue?s prices out of the Big Apple.

He said there had been no complaints from American in the wake of the JetBlue announcement ? due to usher in a new era for travel to and from North America with one-way flights starting at $129.

He said the airline industry was a ?friendly but fiercely competitive environment?, with the customer benefiting from rivals going head to head.

The Deputy Premier also hit back at suggestions major concessions were being offered to lure airlines to Bermuda.

He stressed that agreements with carriers were confidential, but added: ?I can reassure you we have been quite successful without making any major concession to any carrier.?

He said the $250,000 minimum revenue guarantee clause, which is not used in every deal, had only been invoked once on loss-making flights, with the former US Airways flight to Fort Lauderdale.

?That means that the quality of research that has been done before we start negotiations with carriers is paying off,? said Dr. Brown, who stated that his department looked at key gateways and how carriers could make money before striking a deal.

?We do not just say that we need more (air)lift and need to have a parade of planes at the airport.?

Dr. Brown also scotched claims JetBlue?s financial worries would have a negative impact on its pending Bermuda service, due to start on May 4.

The company announced fourth quarter losses of $42 million, but the Tourism Minister compared this to competitors like Delta, which lost $3.8 billion in 2005.

?It?s the nature of the business,? he added, joking that the easiest way to become a millionaire was to start an airline business as a billionaire. He said the JetBlue financial news would not affect Bermuda and that airline companies did not believe in ?laying down and dying?.

Meanwhile, Dr. Brown said that he hoped Spirit Airways will not give up on plans to serve Bermuda from New York?s LaGuardia Airport. He was waiting for news from them ?by the hour?, he revealed.

Dr. Brown also told the press conference that recent talks with travel officials in Munich and Berlin, Germany, on the back of the Munich Air deal had gone well. The excitement level there was ?something to be seen?, he told reporters.

Dr. Brown said he was asked why it had taken so long for a direct flight to Bermuda, due to start on June 2, to see the light of day.

He said that he was happy with the Germany deal before travelling to Europe last week. Now, after meeting with major tour operators and airport bosses, he was confident it would be ?great? for Bermuda.

Dr. Ewart Brown and his tourism team are being accompanied at the ITB Berlin Exhibition ? which features 10,000 exhibitors from 180 countries and regions ? by a Semca car inscribed with the address of Bermuda?s tourism website in Germany, www.takemetobermuda.com.

Dr. Brown said this week?s event was an invaluable opportunity to meet members of the global tourism community and promote the Island as a destination for European holidaymakers.

In particular, the Minister of Tourism and Transport said he was talking to people about the new flight to Bermuda from Munich, which starts on June 2.

?We?ve spent a great deal of time on the first day meeting with the key players dealing with the new flight from Munich to Bermuda,? he said. ?We are encouraged by the level of interest that we have received from the various tourism authorities represented here.?

The Semca car was positioned at the main entrance to the ITB exhibition hall and attracted a lot of attention, including that of the vice-chairman of China?s national tourism administration, who sat inside it with Dr. Brown.