On the day after X-Mas, a request came into the Bermuda airport: a private plane needed to be pulled out of its hangar and readied for takeoff.

The pilots seemed a bit anxious to depart. This did not strike airport employees as unusual; the owners of private aircraft are frequently in a rush.

But there was something memorable about this plane. Word had trickled out that its owner was Michael R. Bloomberg, said a person told of the conversations.

Just where Mr. Bloomberg was over the X-Mas weekend, as a snowstorm bore down on New York City, remains a mystery, prompting intense speculation in the New York press, even now.

Mr. Bloomberg and his aides refuse to talk about it. But the residents of Bermuda have taken no such vow of silence.
They say that Mr. Bloomberg’s plane arrived on the island, where he owns a large waterfront vacation home, sometime after midnight on X-Mas morning. They spoke on condition of anonymity, for fear of inflaming the mayor and the local authorities, who prize discretion for visiting dignitaries.

The mayor’s public schedule shows that he attended a Mass on Dec. 24 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. After that, he did not re-emerge in New York City until about 4 p.m. on Dec. 26.

It was, locals said, a spectacular time to be in Bermuda. Weather reports show a high of 65 degrees on Dec. 25 and an “above normal” temperature of 69 on Dec. 26. One resident called that day “gorgeous.” Back in New York City, it was considerably colder, hitting 32 and 30, respectively, with snow on the way.

By midmorning on Dec. 25, in fact, forecasters had predicted up to a foot of snow in New York.

A spokesman for the mayor, Stu Loeser, did not dispute the account of the Bermudans. “I decline to comment on the Mayor’s private schedule, personal life or personal property,” he said, citing longstanding City Hall policy.

Mr. Bloomberg is not the only person with access to his private planes. His two adult daughters, who are known to spend time in a separate, neighboring home in Bermuda, occasionally use them as well. Mr. Bloomberg, however, tries to spend holidays with his immediate family.

At 3:55 pm on Dec. 25, the National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for New York.

The next day, on Dec. 26, the pilots who fly Mr. Bloomberg’s plane indicated that they were preparing to leave. There was a delay: The plane’s occupants were not yet ready to depart.

At 10:45 a.m., the National Weather Service says, snow began to fall on Central Park.

Sometime around midday, the plane took off. The flight from Bermuda to New York area airports takes about two hours in fair weather.

Around 3:45 p.m. Dec. 26, Mr. Bloomberg, running about an hour behind schedule, showed up at a news conference in New York City to talk about the storm.

New York television stations can be easily picked up in Bermuda, whose residents feel especially close to the city, in part because they watch Mr. Bloomberg on screen.

A person with close ties to the Bermuda aviation system recalled chuckling, several hours after Mr. Bloomberg’s plane had left, when the mayor appeared on television in New York City, talking about the snow.

“I didn’t think he had gotten there yet,” the person said.

(Source: NY Times)