So why are RICH members tipping BRAL?

Jim Porteous, club chairman and former trade communications manager and sales promotions manager at Nestl says: "At about 50p BRAL does look very cheap even though it is a niche operator, with more than 190 daily flights serving regional and hub airports throughout the British Isles and the odd few hops across the Channel, all under the British Airways franchise.

"And it also runs Manx Airlines, linking the tax-efficient operators with major airports in the UK and Ireland."

He points out that the chairman and biggest shareholder of BRAL is Sir Michael Bishop, who has a formidable reputation for his business acumen and is also boss of British Midland.

Sir Michael reported last March a steady growth over the year, advancing from £5.94 million pre-tax profits in 1998 to £7.83 million in 1999 rising possibly to £8.5 million this year.

Mr Porteous says: "Our club research shows that BRAL came to market two years ago at 150p. A few unfounded worries about profit progress then undermined the price and further doubts were sown when low-cost operators AB Airlines and Debonair both went down.

"But BRAL is not a low-cost player. It avoids the political worries of the big boys which are also losing traffic to the cheap players. Instead it manages reasonable margins flying between provincial cities on a scale too small to attract the big boys. Indeed, the probability is that it will pick up more routes from the monsters as they seek to cut back costs."

The Embraer aircraft, which form its fleet, were not accepted at one time, but they are now. Last December it had 15 of the Brazilian planes with a further 23 on order.