The Department of Transport is in no doubt why there has been a seven per cent drop in overall passenger numbers at Ronaldsway over the last month.

Airport Director Ann Reynolds is pointing out Luton is not currently on the list of destinations flown to from the Island adding that, in August 2006, a total of 6,700 passengers travelled on the route.

Flybe is due to pick up the Luton route in the autumn, and Ms Reynold says the return into North London can't come a moment too soon.

She says that some of the passengers have elected to fly to and from other London airports, but air travellers between the key South East market and the Island fell by 4,360 over the 12 months. She says in the past Luton has been extremely popular as a convenient and inexpensive gateway to and from the South East, with Isle of Man residents and visitors taking advantage of the lower fares available.

Flybe will be offering four flights a week over the winter period, and with plans to increase this to daily from spring 2008.

Also of concern, says Ms Reynolds, has been the shortfall of passengers flying between the Isle of Man and the traditional North West regional airports of Liverpool and Manchester.

Both saw decreases in August, but, on the brighter side, Manx2's Blackpool route continues to show good growth. Manx2 is also flying to Gloucester and advance sales on that route are described as 'encouraging', with 1,200 bookings before the service took off.

Despite EuroManx experiencing a remarkable 41% increase in traffic on its Manchester service, in total the North West routes were around 2,700 passengers down on August 2006.

Ms Reynolds says: 'The flattening of the North West market is actually of greater concern to us than the shortfall of passengers to and from London. We are having discussions with our airlines about ways in which we can stimulate this important market and we will be working together to try to reverse the current trend. We believe that the poor summer weather in the British Isles in general has driven people to taking overseas holidays this year, and we hope that the early autumn sunshine will now attract some late holidaymakers to the Island'.

On a positive note, the regional destinations continue to show promise. The Southampton route saw a 177% increase in traffic with nearly 2,700 people using the Flybe service.