THE Isle of Man is proving to be one of the leading nations in aviation because it is a dynamic, forward-looking environment, a seminar in Iceland has been told.

Mark Byrne, director of ICM Aviation Ltd, based in Douglas, was speaking to a major aviation gathering in Reykjavik where his message was warmly received by leading representatives in the industry.

He told delegates that the emergence of the Isle of Man as a key player in aviation was down to the Manx government’s desire to work with companies to create the ideal environment.

"The Isle of Man is an impressive and rapidly expanding centre of gravity," he said. "The key to this is the environment the Isle of Man Government has created. It is important to give credit where credit is due."

The Isle of Man Aircraft Register was launched on May 1st 2007 and - of the 278 aircraft that have been registered - ICM Aviation has earned revenue from around 25 per cent of them. This has been by way of importing, registering, assisting to offer corporate services through its sister company, Inter-Continental Management Ltd, a trust and corporate services provider licensed by the Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission, or a combination of two or more of these services.

Mr Byrne added, "We are talking of more than just a financial services cluster. There are also first class aircraft management and maintenance capabilities on the Island that are seeing an increasing number of aircraft taking advantage of their services.

"There are also a number of manufacturing companies, both new and long established, serving the aviation and aerospace industries that give the Isle of Man world class engineering capabilities.

"The Island is also proving to be a good venue for completing aircraft sales. It makes a convenient point of arrival and departure for private aircraft crossing the Atlantic who take advantage of the services offered by businesses based at the airport as well as the Airport’s own services."

The success of the Aircraft Registry has really helped put the Isle of Man on the map and has been a great help in attracting aircraft traffic, whether Manx registered or not, to the Island. This traffic buys a whole range of Manx services while they are here and thus the economic benefit to the Island extends far beyond the Airport’s perimeter fence.

"The Island offers a unique range of services for aircraft operators and owners," was Mr Byrne’s closing message to the seminar.