Manx passengers affected by drone incident
The Department of Infrastructure has issued a statement about the cancelled EasyJet flight between Gatwick and the Isle of Man on Friday night.
The flight was one of those affected by the runway closures at Gatwick, caused by suspected drone sightings.
The statement says the earlier Isle of Man to Gatwick flight left Ronaldsway over three hours later than scheduled.
The return flight was affected both by that delay and further suspension of flights due to sightings of drones.
EasyJet contacted Isle of Man Airport to ask how late it could stay open, and was told 11pm, the maximum limit for the air traffic controllers on duty.
The problem for the airline was not the flight to the Island, but the return flight, which had to be arranged around Ronaldsway hours, flight crew time limits and a return landing slot.
At 9pm EasyJet decided not to operate the flight as there was a significant queue of air traffic in Gatwick as well as the already late departure slot from Gatwick for the IoM service.
EasyJet does not have a base at Ronaldsway and does not base aircraft here; it needed to ensure the aircraft could fly out again.
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