ALLEGATIONS that the Isle of Man’s regulations regarding pilot flying hours and aircraft safety fall below accepted standards have been described in Tynwald as a “slur” on the industry.

Department of Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne said that comments made in this morning’s sitting of Tynwald by Onchan MHK Peter Karran had given an inaccurate impression of the Island’s safety standards with a series of questions.

Mr Karran alleged that the Isle of Man’s regulations allowed pilots to fly for far longer hours than in other jurisdictions and that the rules were “lax”.

Mr Gawne said that the barrage of questions from Mr Karran had given the “strong implication that in some way airline operators in the IOM are operating outside accepted industry standards.”

He added, “I take this as a very unfortunate slur on the Isle of Man’s airline operators.”

He also described it as “unfortunate” that Mr Karran had so far refused invitations to meet with airline operators to discuss his concerns.

Mr Gawne said that after more than a month of asking questions in Tynwald and the House of Keys Mr Karran still refused to meet the airline operators. “It would be far quicker for Mr Karran to come to me and let’s talk about this matter and get it sorted.”

However, Mr Karran continued to ask a number of supplementary questions about operational procedures applicable in the Isle of Man but which he claimed would not be acceptable in other jurisdictions.

In reply, Mr Gawne pointed out that airlines, flights crews, aircraft and navigational and safety equipment in the Isle of Man conformed to the same international standards which apply to the UK and the European Union.

Concluding the brief exchange of opinions, Alex Downie MLC challenged Mr Karran to produce evidence that any airline operating to or from the Isle of Man was outside the international standards regarding pilot flying hours and safety.