The cost of air travel to and from the Isle of Man is outside the government's control.

That answer came from the Department of Transport to a question in the House of Keys this morning (Tuesday) from Onchan MHK Peter Karran.

He wanted to know what the DoT is doing to guarantee the Manx public benefits from the same prices and service levels as those in the UK.

Not happy with the answer given, he returned to his theme: that the authorities are not doing enough to ensure travellers get a fair deal.

The member for Transport, David Quirk, gave Mr Karran statistics showing a good reliability record by airlines serving the Island.

But he said there are no powers to control pricing.