Royal Mail is considering scrapping delivery flights to the island and transporting all mail by ferry.

The company says it would result in an end to next day deliveries to and from the UK.

In its ‘Consultation on changes to the Postal Schemes 2023’ document, Royal Mail said that as the Isle of Man, like Jersey and Guernsey, is not part of the UK, it was ‘not covered by the domestic requirements under Ofcom’s Designated Universal Service Condition, which include providing a next day delivery service to every address across the UK’.

It added: ‘This would provide greater flexibility in the future, allowing us to make changes to how we send the mail to these three territories without being bound by the Due Date set out in the UK Post Scheme.’

If approved, the mail plane would be scrapped and all post, including letters and parcels, would be sent to the island on the Steam Packet, which would likely provide a boost to the ferry operator.

Royal Mail said: ‘This is in the context of rapidly declining letters volumes and would provide an opportunity to jointly reduce costs while demonstrating our commitment to minimising our impact on the environment. This is also in line with Royal Mail’s environmental plan, Steps to Zero, which looks to reduce reliance on flights as the company works towards its 2040 net-zero targets. It would result in a two-day service for sending and receiving mail from the UK.’

Isle of Man Post Office is not part of Royal Mail, but its services would be impacted by this decision.