Sunday saw the return of the island’s direct link to London’s Heathrow airport for the first time in about 17 years.

The last time Manx residents could fly direct to Europe’s biggest airport was in 2002 when Manx Airlines was sold to British Airways.

The maiden Flybe operated flight was a Dash 8 0400 aircraft flown by Manxman Captain Paul Quine, who coincidentally operated the last Manx Airlines flight from Birmingham to Ronaldsway in 2002.

The flight left Ronaldsway at 1.45pm and landed at Heathrow’s terminal two at 2.36pm - a flight time of just 51 minutes, nearly 35 minutes earlier than scheduled.

Captain Quine told the Examiner that while it was the first time Flybe had flown into Heathrow from the island, it was an airport with which he was familiar.

He said: ’Flybe already operates four other regional routes into London Heathrow and I have from time to time been rostered to operate such flights.

’I also flew on the route during my time as a pilot with Manx Airlines.’

And, while the flight has attracted a lot of attention both from the public and the media, Captain Quine said this wasn’t something that surprised him. He said the new link provided great opportunities for Manx holiday makers and businesses.

’London Heathrow offers a fantastic opportunity to link the Isle of Man to the world’, he said.

’For the leisure traveller it provides connections to every continent on the planet, except Antarctica, enabling world-wide holidays to be planned with greater ease, and for the business traveller it offers direct connections to the global financial super-hubs allowing the Isle of Man an opportunity to really ’punch its weight’ as a place to do business.’

The new Manx route was one of several announced by the airline following it being bought by a group led by Virgin and Stobart Air.

Other routes have included a new link for Cornwall, Guernsey and Newquay and increasing the number of daily flights from Edinburgh to London.

While certainly humble about his place in Manx aviation history, Captain Quine is proud to be part of the new opportunities for the island.

He said: ’I am very proud to come from the Isle of Man, and any opportunity I have to promote the island is something I am always only too pleased to assist with.

’So, as a Manxman, it gave me particular pleasure to be in command of the inaugural flight between Ronaldsway and Heathrow, re-establishing this highly important air link.’

The return flight from Heathrow left slightly behind schedule at 5.40pm and got back into Ronaldsway at 6.37pm.

The new route means that with Flybe operating a Heathrow route, EasyJet flying to Gatwick with seasonal flights to Luton and British Airways flying to London City, Stansted is the now only airport serving the capital that Manx residents cannot fly to directly.