Coral Beach and Tennis Club has chartered a jet to provide airlift to Bermuda for its members resident in the US northeast.

The private members-only club is to begin the weekly charter service on Saturday. It is initially scheduled to run for four weeks.

A fully booked, 13-seat Embraer Legacy 600 jet will leave Westchester Airport in White Plains, New York, at 10am, and arrive in Bermuda at 1pm.

The return flight departs Bermuda at 3pm, and arrives in White Plains at 4pm local time.

Tickets cost $1,500 each way. There are six seats available to local residents on the return flight to White Plains.

Nik Bhola, general manager at Coral Beach, said the “majority” of the people on Saturday’s flight to Bermuda were members of the 26-acre property on South Shore in Paget, which he said was “fully operational”.

He said most of Coral Beach’s overseas client base resided in the US northeast. There are currently no direct commercial flights from that region of the US to Bermuda.

Mr Bhola said: “We wanted to provide a service for the majority of our client base.”

He said that by flying on a charter, travellers would avoid larger airports.

Mr Bhola said: “We find that people who are willing to travel are very much interested in minimising their exposure.

“The fact that they are not in a crowded airport space with other individuals is very appealing to them.”

The club contacted its members in early June to gauge interest in the charter.

Initial plans to offer service from White Plains and Bedford, Massachusetts, have been scaled back to just the service from New York to begin with, but Mr Bhola said additional flights could be added should there be demand.

Travellers arriving on the charter must complete the Government’s Covid-19 testing protocol in the private air terminal, Mr Bhola said.

He said the club welcomed inquiries from residents for the remaining six seats on Saturday’s flight to White Plains, which is 25 miles north of New York City.

Mr Bhola said: “We have to fill the plane here and back to make it viable. This is an opportunity for people on-island to get to New York quickly and safely. If they reach out, we will certainly try to accommodate them.”

Interested parties can contact the club at reservations@coralbeach.bm or 236-2233.