Isle of Man airport disruption should ease next month, ministers told

The airport has been hit by flight delays and cancellations due to runway closures

A shortage of air traffic controllers at the Isle of Man Airport should ease next month, the Council of Ministers has been told.

Flights to and from the island continue to be disrupted by runway closures when air traffic controllers go on a break.

Last week ministers were given an update on plans to remedy the situation by the airport director, Gary Cobb.

A training programme for new recruits is underway so that staff can be added to the rota, a spokesman said.

The spokesman for the island's infrastructure department said there was "growing confidence" that the delays will ease in August.

'Difficult time'

At the meeting with Mr Cobb, ministers were told that the long-term aim was to increase the number of air traffic controllers to 18 over the next three years, up from the current 14, to "provide added resilience to air services".

Chris Thomas, who is the minister for the department of infrastructure, which has responsibility for the airport at Ronaldsway in Ballasalla, said he was "grateful for the commitment shown by our air traffic controllers to get more staff trained and operational as soon as possible".

Chief Minister Alfred Cannan said it had been "a difficult time for travellers and businesses".

"We are working as hard as possible to get air traffic control properly resourced and the long-term plan includes additional investment in staff to bring extra resilience to air services at Ronaldsway," he added.

The shortage of air traffic controllers follows disruption to flights earlier this year while a new instrument landing system was put in place. An instrument landing system is a precision radio-navigation tool that allows aircraft to approach a runway at night or in bad weather.