The contract centers on Air Tahiti Nui being able to release one of its fleet of five Airbus aircraft for the air bridge and is worth about $10 million, officials said.

The need for a new transport arrangement for the British military personnel arose after low-cost Scottish airline Fly Globespan collapsed last year.

Officials said Britain might make the arrangement permanent once it is satisfied Air Tahiti Nui can deliver on its military's needs in the South Atlantic. The first Air Tahiti Nui flight is due to transport British personnel to the Falklands Wednesday.

The French Polynesian government has a majority stake in the national carrier, which currently serves mostly tourism flights between Tahiti and key points of origin for Tahiti-bound tourism travel, including the United States, Japan and Europe.

The airline fleet of Airbus planes consists of newer models, including the Airbus A340-300 aircraft, which seats 294 passengers.

British military activity in the South Atlantic has increased, partly because of recent defense maneuvers and patrol duties and partly in response to recent pronouncements from Argentina about Argentine claims on the Falkland Islands.

Britain and Argentina fought a war over the islands in 1982 after an Argentine military invasion that year. Britain retained control of the islands after a 74-day conflict, but Argentina did not renounce its claim of sovereignty over the islands.

Argentina reiterated its claim in an official statement Sunday. The Foreign Affairs Ministry said Buenos Aires considered "incomprehensible" Britain's refusal to reopen negotiations on the sovereignty issue.

Tensions have been exacerbated amid stepped-up British activity to exploit the Falkland Islands' offshore oil and gas reserves, rated by scientists to be comparable to Britain's own North Sea oil deposits.

The Argentine ministry said it would continue to seek "a definitive solution to the dispute" that could end an "anachronic colonial situation incompatible with the evolution of the modern world."

Britain argues the Falklanders' have exercised self-determination and chosen to remain a British Overseas Territory.

A British Task Force sent to the islands by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher beat off the invading Argentine forces but at great human cost. The conflict led to the deaths of 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers, sailors and airmen, and three civilian Falklanders.

The Falklands war does not figure in British consciousness with the same intensity as it does in Argentina, where memories of the defeat remain raw and emotion-charged.

Argentina's retreat in the conflict was a catalyst for the country ridding itself of military dictatorship.

Britain has invested heavily in Falklands defense and also used its military presence there for preparatory training of troops who are later deployed in Afghanistan.

The destroyer HMS York arrived in the Falkland Islands last week to take up defense and patrol duties from U.K.-bound HMS Gloucester.

The last of the Type 42 destroyers to be built for the British Royal Navy, HMS York will be on patrol duty for the next six months. The warship is due to visit Stanley on Jan. 10.

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