Runway time change could delay mail - post office

The runway will open at 30 minutes later from 12 June

Changes to the opening time of the runway at the Isle of Man's Airport could delay deliveries of air mail to Manx addresses, the post office has said.

The facility is due to open 30 minutes later at 06:45 BST from 12 June.

Isle of Man Post Office said its teams would still "process as much air mail as possible for delivery on the same day".

Airport Director Gary Cobb said the change would help with "staffing issues" within the air traffic control team but passengers would notice "no difference".

Mr Cobb said illness and the retirement within the Isle of Man's air traffic control team had created "staffing issues", including the need for flight radars to close at times to cover mandatory breaks.

The revised runway opening time would provide more "resilience" within the team to "safeguard some more flights in the morning and evening", he said.

New recruits

In future, five new recently recruited air traffic controllers should bolster the rota, which was currently "quite fragile", Mr Cobb said.

But that would take up to three years for each recruit to become fully skilled, he added.

The airport terminal itself is set to continue to open as usual at 05:30 with passenger flights scheduled to take off from 07:00.

A spokeswoman for the post office said special delivery items would be prioritised for same-day delivery in future, and local and sea mail would not be affected.

Earlier this month Royal Mail confirmed it is consulting on the future of mail deliveries to the Crown Dependencies, which could see the next day delivery of items could be affected by any changes in future.