Island's flight schedule up in the air

easyJet pulls some routes for winter

easyJet says a decision to cut its Isle of Man route down to four days a week over winter, is a result of a recent review undertaken by the company. 

In November and December, flights between Ronaldsway and Manchester will only operate on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

An easyJet spokesperson told Manx Radio: "Like all airlines, we continually review our schedule on an ongoing basis and make some changes to our flying programme in advance to ensure we are best serving the schedule our customers want to fly and following a recent review we have reduced the frequencies on our route between the Isle of Man and Manchester this winter, however we continue to operate the service four times a week alongside our daily service to Liverpool.

"All impacted customers booked to travel have been notified and provided with options to rebook for free or a refund. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

(Flight options for the Isle of Man - Manchester route for the coming months)

OTHER ROUTES

It appears the Isle of Man to Manchester route isn't the only one subject to changes this winter.

Flights between the Island and Northern Ireland also seem to have been slashed.

The easyJet website states that there will be no flights to Belfast between 17 November and 22 December.

Service will resume to a couple of days a week from late December.

Manx Radio has contacted the airline for clarity regarding this route.

(Flight options for the Isle of Man - Belfast route for the coming months)

WHAT NOW?

For those wanting to fly to Manchester, Loganair has announced it will fill the void left by easyJet's decision, by offering additional flights on the route in November and December this year.

The additional flights will operate on Tuesdays and Wednesdays each week.

It means Loganair will now operate twice daily flights, seven days a week between Isle of Man and Manchester from 31 October.

Recent figures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) revealed 45 per cent of flights between the Isle of Man and Manchester operated by easyJet arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, compared to 81 per cent operated by Loganair.

Jonathan Hinkles, CEO, Loganair, said: “Consistency of connectivity is so important for the communities we serve, both for economic growth and tourism opportunities, particularly so for our island customers.

“We often see budget airlines swoop onto routes where Loganair is established, offering low prices and enticing deals. But when passenger numbers are thinner in the winter months, these competitors are nowhere to be seen. Loganair’s unique commitment to basing aircraft, crews and engineers in the Isle of Man offers year-round certainty of service. In comparison, easyJet suspended the route last summer, re-started and then cut back flights last winter, and it's cut back flights again this winter.

“We think it’s important that people who had booked with easyJet still have the option to travel as planned – and that’s why we’ve added the additional routes at similar times to the services that have been lost.”

CAA figures from July 2023: