In recent weeks, disruption at airports and ports across the UK have become a common sight.

Thousands of people heading abroad for the Easter holidays have faced long queues, delays and cancellations.

Long waits at security have plagued Manchester Airport in particular.

Here in the island, various flights have been delayed and cancelled due to airline issues, technical problems and staffing shortages at Ronaldsway.

A shortage of air traffic controllers has now been confirmed by the infrastructure minister.

On Friday, April 8, an Easyjet service to London Gatwick was forced to wait on the tarmac for an hour as air traffic control was closed.

Tim Crookall MHK said: ‘Air traffic controllers legally have to take a break every so often, and Easyjet were aware of what time they had to be here for, and I think they were late for whatever reason – I’m not blaming anyone on this but this is what happened.

‘It’s one of those issues where, it’s our fault because we haven’t got enough staff.’

He added: ‘But actually, Easyjet were aware of what time they had to be in and what time they could go out.

‘We do our bit and while we try to help where we can, the [staff] have to take a break and legally we can’t extend their hours even for 10 minutes just to help them out.’

In terms of the wider staffing issue, Mr Crookall stated it is being looked at.

He said: ‘We have got a staffing issue at the moment and because of lack of training facilities for the last two years due to Covid, we haven’t been able to train the staff up.

‘So we’re getting there slowly, but it’s going to take us some time.

‘It’s not just here, it’s all across. Airports across, in Manchester and Liverpool – we’re not alone in this at all.’

Alongside island-based staff shortages, airlines have also been hit by Covid-related staff absences, with a total of more than 100 daily flights being cancelled by EasyJet and British Airways.

The disruption comes as passenger numbers are notably increasing across the UK and channel islands after the easing of pandemic restrictions.

In Jersey, the government has said that air-passenger numbers are recovering better there post-pandemic than airports in the UK.

A total of 116,182 passengers passed through the airport in the first two months of this year, compared to 195,261 during the same period in 2020 – equating to about 60% of pre-pandemic levels.

Here in the Isle of Man, 60,790 passengers passed through Ronaldsway in the first two months of this year, compared to 2,493 during the same period in 2021.

In January 2021, 1,379 passengers travelled through the airport compared to 25,630 this year. In February 2021 there were 1,113 compared with 35,160 this year.

In March 2021, 1,786 passengers travelled, compared with 43,393 last month.

With the noticeable jump in passenger figures, and the further increase expected by summer, Mr Crookall said the airport is aiming to have dealt with the staffing issues as soon as possible.