A start-up boutique airline planning to cater to Bermuda’s business-class travellers has applied for an air operators certificate from the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority, The Royal Gazette has learnt.

Tariq Lynch Wade, director of operations at the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority, said BermudAir, which plans to fly to Boston, Fort Lauderdale and White Plains in New York, had applied for an AOC on January 21.

He said: “BermudAir is still undergoing the relevant certification activities necessary for the issuance of that certificate.”

Mr Lynch Wade said the AOC process consists of five phases set out by the International Civil Aviation Organisation and depending on the complexity of the proposed operation and can often exceed six months from the time an application is made.

He added: “In addition to the AOC, a proposed operator/airline must apply for an air transport licence, which serves as a financial health check of the company and its proposed operation.

“This will inevitably require the input of the Ministry of Transport at some point in the process. More information on the ATL can be found Air Transport Licensing | Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority.”

Bermudair Limited also filed a request for a foreign air carrier permit with the United States Department of Transportation on Friday.

If approved, the company would run scheduled and chartered flights between the US and Bermuda, with 30 premium seats on board, using two leased Embraer E-175 aircraft.

One of the aircraft was added to the Bermuda register last month. The aircraft were formerly run by Flybe, a British airline that went out of business in January.

Chief executive Adam D Scott, also chief executive at Odyssey Airlines Limited, a start-up yet to commence flights, is the CEO, while Martin Amick, the former CEO of Bermudian-based Longtail Aviation, is chief operating officer, according to his LinkedIn page.

Mr Scott, a Canadian who previously worked at Goldman Sachs, is named as the only director of the company on the Bermuda Registrar of Companies website.

BermudAir would fly six days a week, twice daily from LF Wade International Airport to Westchester County Airport, 30 miles north of Manhattan.

It aims to serve Boston and Fort Lauderdale once daily, six days a week, but “may further expand the proposed services and aircraft in the future”, the online site FlightGlobal reported.

Mr Scott applied in December to incorporate the company in Bermuda via Conyers Corporate Services.

The news comes amid flagging airlift for Bermuda to gateway US cities such as Boston and Miami.