Air passengers are being urged to turn up to Ronaldsway in good time to avoid long queues and the risk of missing flights.

Over the past few weeks, travellers have reported long queues getting through security.

It is understood that delays meant some passengers booked on Friday evening’s easyJet service to Liverpool missed their flight.

Ports director Ann Reynolds said the airport is putting messages on its website, Twitter and Facebook pages asking passengers to get to the airport early.

She said: ’I am very sorry that passengers are being inconvenienced and are having, at times, to queue to enter the central search area for security processing.’

She said she believes there are a number of reasons for the queues.

Aircraft are now bigger and the number of passegers per flight has doubled. Last year, the airport dealt with the same number of passengers, about 805,000, as it did in 2005 but the number of aircraft has almost halved in that time.

The average load factor per aircraft is also higher, the airport director explained, with easyJet averaging 94 per cent over the summer on its 156-seat Airbus A319 aircraft.

Airlines like easyJet actually ask passengers to arrive at the airport two hours before take-off. They also advise them to be in departures at a time that many passengers are just coming in through the front door at Ronaldsway, said the airport director.

’For example, easyJet inform their passengers they should be at the departure gate (ie in departures) 40 minutes prior to take-off. Many passengers are not adhering to the airline’s instructions,’ she said.

Another issue is that some passengers are deliberately waiting landside until their flight is called.

And Ms Reynolds advised people to prepare to go through security - taking off their coats, putting liquids in a single clear plastic bag and getting their iPads and laptops ready to put in a separate tray.

The actual security procedure only takes about 25-40 seconds depending on whether the alarm at the archway metal detector is set off, or you are selected for a random check.

Ms Reynolds pointed out that the second set of x-ray equipment is purely a back-up.

’If the equipment fails and we had no second set, every single item going through as hand luggage would have to be hand searched. That would mean many hours of delay per flight,’ she said.

She said there is often a 20 -30 minute peak in the morning and in the evening. At the end of TT and during the first weekend of the school holidays extra staff are brought in for whole shifts to open up the other set of equipment.

But if the second scanner was opened up outside these times, a minimum of five extra contract staff would need to be brought in just to cover a 30 minute peak.

She added: ’I don’t think it is just one thing that has changed recently, but that it has been building up.

’If passengers have checked in online, they should be at Ronaldsway one hour before take-off. If they need to check-in at the airport as well, then they need to add an additional 20-30 minutes - i.e. get to Ronaldsway 90 minutes before take-off.’