Giggleberrys

Because of the outpouring of love from the GMP when the closures are lifted due to him being signed off?

It was the same for this summer with Easyjet scheduling flights outside of airport hours. I think a 21:50 departure to Gatwick was bookable at one point. Only when this was raised with Airport management was it quickly changed back to the 21:05 schedule we have now......although 21:50 is actually more realistic most days it seems

Broken aeroplane, not the airports fault on this occasion

Anything is possible with a bottomless budget and plenty of time.......I don't think Ronaldsway currently has either. If ATC was outsourced (for example to Peel Holdings who run Liverpool) it wouldn't be as a charitable gift, it would more likely cost more than it currently does being run "in house". You only have to look at the Baggage handling and Security which have both gone "out of house" in recent years and you wonder if either of those decisions were actually beneficial to the Airport users

How can the military help? In order to "control" aircraft you need to be checked out at Ronaldsway. You can't just draft people in who haven't worked there before. If there are reduced numbers of controllers then surely the options are: keep the airport hours the same with reduced staff numbers and have periods of closure to allow mandated fatigue breaks, or completely change the airport opening hours so it is fully staffed for those hours and there is no need for closure periods. Given the airlines have sold flights based on published airport hours then retaining those appears to be the current "plan"

Is this still related to the current Runway closure?

Is there any comparable airport in the UK that has cross runways?

Prepare for those stories to return. Thanks to zero planning with airline scheduling each Sunday afternoon throughout the winter there is set to be 3 easyjet, a loganair and an aer lingus departure within an hour of each other.

It seems that not having enough Air Traffic Controllers isn't just an Isle of Man problem: https://www.nats.aero/careers/vacancies/v/265457/ If the Airport want to attract qualified controllers from across then it'll be much tougher with those jobs already on offer

The "Airport Curfew" is due to the operational hours limitations of Air Traffic Control and has always been 11pm as a cut off. The fact that Easyjet schedule their flights for later than 2100 each evening (the published IOM Airport closing time is 2045) means that when there are delays then they get closer and closer to the curfew time. The "Air Traffic Delays" are at the Gatwick side of things due to capacity and nothing to do with the airport here. Obviously if the delay means the aircraft couldn't fly here, turn around and then be back on its way to Gatwick before 11pm then Easyjet just cancel the flight. The last thing they want is an aircraft stuck at Ronaldsway overnight.

On the contrary, the entire method of how the airport is being run is open for discussion. The Fire Service, Air Traffic Control, Airfield Operations and the Terminal are all currently Government controlled but that may change depending on the will of the newly elected politicians.

Our comparable islands in the Channel both have Airports which are government owned. The Steam Packet has just been brought back into Government control as it is considered a lifeline and in the national interest. Do you really think that selling the Airport off to a private entity which would then have the Island by the balls would be of benefit? That's not to say that things down there can't be improved, I just think giving up control over one of the two main ways on and off the island would be political suicide

I guess that would be cost prohibitive

Not true about the radar. Part of an approval from the regulator for a new system includes a caveat that a "back up" must be in place in case of failure in order to revert back and maintain service. This is usually for a defined period (6 - 12 months etc) so I'd expect the old radar will be laid to rest soon