Nine flights were cancelled across the TT fortnight, the Chief Minister has told the House of Keys.
Five out of 71 EasyJet flights were cancelled, as well as four out of 100 Loganair flights during the two-week period.
This was in response to a question posed by Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Jason Moorhouse asking what assessment had been made of the impact of cancellations on the island’s reputation.
‘There has been no formal assessment of the impact,’ said Chief Minister Alfred Cannan, who was answering in his capacity as Minister for the Department for Enterprise at the time. ‘The aviation sector has experienced a difficult time in recent weeks, with staffing and operational difficulties.
‘The Isle of Man has not been immune to the impact of this.’
He said that the government had been in ‘constant contact’ with airlines ahead of and during the TT period due to the ‘high level’ of bookings they were experiencing. Mr Cannan added that there had been a number of ‘knock-on’ cancellations and delays as a result of the situation in UK airports.
He said: ‘We do have a cross-agency contingency plan in place to ensure support is available and to provide accommodation on island if needed.
‘There was some level of disruption.’
The Chief Minister believed it was important to put it into context with the ‘hundreds’ of flights that had been cancelled in the UK.
John Wannenburgh said money had been ‘wasted on useless projects’ in regards to the airport, with which Mr Cannan disagreed. He said: ‘Significant improvements have been made to the airport’s landing arrangements over the last few years, we will continue to assess what can be done to improve it.
‘We’ve also been in touch with airlines and worked with them to emphasise the importance of maintaining the routes in the island and we will continue to do that.
‘If there is a clear cut business case that will benefit our economy, we should give our utmost consideration to that.’
Mr Moorhouse also asked about specific problems in the Isle of Man, including the lighting used at Ronaldsway and the airport’s opening hours.
To this, Mr Cannan said these were being kept under review, adding that there are practical constraints in terms of opening hours, with minimum rest periods for staff which places limits on any extensions of opening hours.
‘We take this seriously and will continue to review its performance,’ he said.