Chief Minister Allan Bell MHK said he had made clear his concerns about Flybe’s decision to close its island base when he met the airline’s chief executive officer Saad Hammad.
Mr Hammad met airline staff to brief them on the possible changes immediately before meeting the Chief Minister and Minister of Infrastructure David Cretney MHK at Ronaldsway airport.
Mr Bell said there had been a ‘frank but amicable’ exchange of information. ‘I made our concerns very clear,’ he said.
He said he outlined his concerns at the potential loss of job for the Flybe crews, the importance of good airlinks for the Manx economy and the significance of the patient transfer service to Liverpool.
Flybe only signed a three-year deal to operate that service - for which the Manx government pays £1.6m – in September.
Mr Bell said the Flybe boss had stressed that no final decisions had been made with regard to routes and redundancies. However, it is clear that the island base will close.
He said: ‘Flybe no longer feels the Liverpool route is viable. We need to retain an early morning flight out and a late night flight back. Manchester was identified as the only profitable route of its links to the Isle of Man. I’m optimistic the Manchester link will continue in some form.’
Mr Bell said a range of options were considered including the possibility of island-based crews being redeployed to Flybe’s Manchester hub and the option the an aircraft being stabled overnight at Ronaldsway for early morning flights. There is a privately-operated aircraft service centre based at Ronaldsway that could provide engineers, he added.
Mr Bell stressed it wasn’t a problem specific to the island as Flybe was fighting for survival and needed to take drastic action. He added: ‘We are already talking to number of airlines who have expressed an interest in picking up some or all these routes.’
