Isle of Man postal disruption due to airport visibility issues

Several flights have faced disruption since the weekend

Postal deliveries to the Isle of Man have been disrupted due to poor visibility at the airport.

The conditions meant the morning aircraft carrying island-bound UK and worldwide mail was unable to land.

Isle of Man Post Office said no mail would leave the island on Thursday and guaranteed delivery had been suspended.

Airport officials warned that forecast low visibility and wind speeds, along with work to upgrade the instrument landing system (ILS) may cause issues.

An inbound flight from Liverpool was forced to return to England for the same reasons.

The main cause of the latest disruption has been attributed to the weather conditions, however landing system work has also been a factor in previous cancelations and delays.

'Challenges'

An airport spokesman said the the project to replace the landing system on runway 26, which is due to be completed by the beginning of April, is necessary as the current system had reached the end of its lifespan.

"Any work on ILS systems can face challenges, particularly when weather means that the pilots need to rely on them," he said.

Although the operational ILS at the other end of the runway could be used at time, in bad weather that was not always possible, he continued.

"Airlines are aware of the project currently taking place and make decisions in line with their operational needs," he added.