A new director is taking over at Isle of Man Airport – but while Ronaldsway has exited special attention over its safety management system, Air Traffic Services remains under regulatory scrutiny amid staffing and training pressures.
- High flying exec Mark Beveridge is due to take over as Isle of Man Airport Director at the beginning of May, bringing senior experience from Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton.
- The airport has come out of special measure over its safety management system – but Air Traffic Services remains under ‘special attention’ because of staffing and training pressures.
- Expose News previously reported claims that around £100 million could be invested in Ronaldsway over the next decade, alongside the argument that infrastructure only works when the right long-term operators are in place.
A new airport chief is preparing to touch down at Ronaldsway – but he is not arriving at a clean-slate operation. Mark Beveridge will take up the role of Isle of Man Airport Director at the beginning of May, with ministers hailing his experience at Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton as proof the island has secured a serious aviation heavyweight.
However, the challenge is what he is walking into.
Because while the Isle of Man Airport has now come out of special attention in relation to its safety management system, the airport’s wider regulatory picture is still far from fully cleared. The Department of Infrastructure said in January that the airport’s overall regulatory status remains under ‘Special Attention’ in relation to Air Traffic Services, with ongoing pressures around staffing and training.
But a source familiar with the story added: ‘Beveridge is well thought of. He is clearly the right man to handle the big incoming investment. He’s made his mark in operations. And I think he’ll make a success of the strategic role. However, he is not simply inheriting a routine handover after Geoff Pugh’s stint. He is taking control of an operation where one compliance issue has been sorted, but another is still live.’
The background to that is well documented. In October 2025, Infrastructure Minister Dr Michelle Haywood told Tynwald that Ronaldsway’s Air Traffic Services Unit had been placed under ‘special attention’ in August 2025 following a July oversight audit. She said the main causes were ‘ongoing and well-documented staffing challenges’, along with operational limitations and long-term resilience issues.
Haywood also said at the time that the airport ‘remains safe and operational’, framing the intervention as mainly a management and resilience problem rather than a direct safety failure. But she also warned there was no fixed timetable for the status to be lifted and said: ‘Some of the actions will last for years.’ That was a clear sign this was not a short-term paperwork exercise, but a deeper institutional repair job.
In January this year, the picture shifted – but only in part. The airport responded to criticism from former air traffic controller Sue Scott by confirming that its special attention status over the safety management system had been removed after a corrective action plan was completed. However, the same response made clear that Air Traffic Services remained under special attention because of staffing and training concerns.
In announcing his move, he said his first priority would be to get to know the staff, understand the risks and opportunities facing the airport, and build strong relationships with airlines, ground handlers, businesses and the wider community.
And there is another reason the appointment matters. Expose News reported in August 2025 that Ronaldsway was expected to see around £100 million of investment over the next decade, after a run of tactical upgrades including improved departures facilities and drainage works. That article argued that infrastructure success depends not just on money, but on getting the right people in place to build and run it over the long term.
Ronaldsway was described in that Expose analysis as a mid-ranking, loss-making airport with a brighter future if capital spending and capable management were aligned. Beveridge’s arrival is therefore not just a personnel announcement. It will be seen by the business community as a test of whether the island can match its infrastructure ambitions with management depth and operational resilience.
Our source continued: ‘The new boss is landing with one eye on the runway – and the other on the control tower.’
