Airport delays improve in the Isle of Man but air traffic control remains Ronaldsway's biggest issue

ITV Granada Reports' Isle of Man reporter Joshua Stokes has the latest.

Frequent flyers in the Isle of Man are no strangers to the challenge of getting on and off the island.

Over the last couple of years, air travel has become harder across Europe due to a number of different factors.

An increased demand in overseas holidays, a shortage of staff and various strikes across the continent has all contributed to the post-Covid disruption.

On the Isle of Man, that disruption is often felt strongly by its people, relying on just one airport to fly.

An airport smaller in size, operating from the middle of the Irish Sea, and therefore prone to changeable weather conditions, with a minimal pool of trained staff.

As a result, Ronaldsway Airport is forced to close its runway on two separate occasions during the day, to facilitate regulated breaks for its air traffic control officers (ATCOs).

A lack of trained staff means the airport is unable to operate during all working hours.

Head of Air Traffic Services, Geoff Pugh, said: "We time those [breaks] to deconflict with the scheduled operations as far as we can, but of course if an aircraft then doesn't arrive on time for whatever reason, that can obviously add complexity to that.

"We can certainly add to those delays, but in the vast majority of cases we are not the cause of the delays."

A shortage of ATCOs is a problem faced by a number of different airports across Europe.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in the number of people travelling abroad for holidays, putting further strain on the ATC system.

It takes an average of three years to fully train an ATCO, with a higher risk of failure than most roles.

Ronaldsway needs 18 trained ATCOs to be fully operational, and it currently has 16.

According to statistics held by the airport, a quarter of all flights were delayed between January and July.

Out of 2775 flights departing Ronaldsway, 707 were delayed by 16 minutes or more.

However, this is an improvement compared to the 936 flights that were delayed in 2023 across the same time period.

Commercial Director, Hannah Lo Bao said: "With delays it all comes down to the airlines having the resilience in their aircraft - it's getting better - so lots of them are seeing improvements in the data like we have.

"But yeah, we're all still a little bit vulnerable and I think probably for the next couple of summers you'll still see some of that vulnerability."

Staff have, however, announced improvements across the airport, which include plans for new facilities, including an extension to the current bar and Costa Coffee in the departure lounge.

Mr Pugh said the airport hopes to remove the two morning closures by 2025, but could be no more specific on how soon that may be.

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