Bermuda’s flagship airline service made its debut flight to Connecticut today as one of six new flights.

BermudAir’s first flight to Hartford took off yesterday with a full water cannon salute.

Marty Amick, the chief project officer and cofounder of BermudAir said that the flight, though it had fewer than 20 passengers, was “a bridge” to another section of the US.

He said: “We see this as a new pathway and a new route for Bermudians to have access to Connecticut and western Massachusetts.

“We see this as not just a new service but actually a bridge that connect families, that connects businesses, that connects friends.

“We look forward to inviting people from New England to share our love of Bermuda and conversely to share our friends in Bermuda to enjoy the pleasures and interesting aspects of vibrant New England.”

The flight was celebrated with an inaugural ribbon-cutting involving the captain, first officer, Mr Amick and members of the cabin crew.

It departed Bermuda at about 4.27pm and is expected to land at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut at about 5.35pm local time after a two and a half-hour flight.

Mr Amick thanked Skyport and Owen Darrell, the tourism minister, for their help.

He added: “We’ve come a long way since we’ve started last year and none of this would have been possible without the help of a lot of people.”

BermudAir is expected to fly to Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina next Friday and Charleston, South Carolina on April 19.

Other flight will go to Providence, Rhode Island, on May 22, Richmond, Virginia, on June 7 and Montreal, Quebec, on June 12.

A BermudAir spokeswoman said that most of these flights were driven by tourism and cultural connections.

Richmond, she explained, had many historical connections to Bermuda through maritime history, while Raleigh-Durham was a shopping “playground” for many Bermudians.

Many people with an interest in sailing, the spokeswoman added, could also fly to and from Charleston and Providence through these new routes.

The spokeswoman said that places such as Hartford and Raleigh-Durham could be home to many business interests.

She said: “We have found a niche market to be able to help aid many different markets that wouldn’t have been traditionally picked up from larger air carriers.

“Instead of competing with bigger hubs such as Atlanta, we’ve decided to look into different service markets that are saying ‘I’d rather go to a smaller hub where I don’t have the hustle and bustle of a larger airport’.”