Departure
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MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Isle of Man Airport, also known as Ronaldsway Airport, is the island's main civil aerodrome, lying on the south coast near Castletown and Malew, about six nautical miles southwest of Douglas. A fully ATC-controlled, ILS-equipped field with a long history as a wartime RAF and Royal Naval air station, it now handles scheduled services to the UK and Ireland alongside general aviation traffic, making it a distinctive island destination for visiting pilots.
Isle of Man Airport, known locally as Ronaldsway Airport, is the principal civilian airport serving the Isle of Man, situated at Ronaldsway in the parish of Malew near Castletown, on the south of the island. It is operated by the Isle of Man Government's Department of Infrastructure and acts as a focus city for Loganair, with easyJet also operating scheduled services. For a simulator pilot the field offers an interesting island approach over the Irish Sea, a fully controlled ATC environment, and a runway that has been extended out over the coastline, all set against a backdrop of considerable wartime aviation history.
The airport lies on the southern coast of the Isle of Man, at Ronaldsway near Castletown and Malew, roughly six nautical miles southwest of Douglas, the island's capital. It is a controlled aerodrome served by its own Approach, Radar, Tower and Information positions, and pilots operating in the vicinity can expect to work with Ronaldsway air traffic control throughout the transit, approach and departure phases.
The airport has two physical runway pairs. The main runway, 08/26, is a hard-surfaced, lit runway equipped with ILS on both directions, measuring 5965 ft from threshold 08 and 5969 ft from threshold 26. The secondary runway, 03/21, is also hard-surfaced and lit but without ILS, with a length of 3604 ft from threshold 03 and 3938 ft from threshold 21. Field elevation is 33 ft.
Pilots should expect to work Ronaldsway Approach on 135.905 MHz, Ronaldsway Radar on 120.85 MHz and 125.3 MHz (with 135.905 MHz also used for Radar), and Ronaldsway Tower on 119.005 MHz. Ronaldsway Information, the airport's ATIS, broadcasts on 123.875 MHz. The main runway, 08/26, is equipped with an ILS.
As a fully controlled aerodrome, all traffic operates under the direction of Ronaldsway Approach, Radar and Tower, with pilots expected to obtain clearances and follow ATC instructions for joining, routing and landing rather than flying a self-arranged visual circuit.
Ronaldsway was first used as an airfield in 1928, with passenger services to the UK beginning in 1933 under Blackpool and West Coast Air Services, followed by Aer Lingus and Railway Air Services from 1934, and Isle of Man Air Services taking over RAS operations from 1937. A 1936 expansion of the airport uncovered a mass grave believed to hold soldiers who died during the Battle of Ronaldsway in 1275. At the outbreak of the Second World War the airfield came under Royal Air Force control as RAF Ronaldsway, remaining one of the few airfields to continue civilian flights throughout the war; it was used by No. 1 Ground Defence and Gunnery School flying Westland Wallace aircraft, with wartime expansion also revealing Neolithic remains that gave the Ronaldsway culture its name. In 1943 the airfield passed to the Admiralty for development as a Fleet Air Arm training station, and after nearly a year of major construction work it was commissioned as HMS Urley on 21 June 1944, becoming a torpedo working-up station operating Fairey Barracuda aircraft with No. 1 Operational Training Unit's 710, 713 and 747 Naval Air Squadrons until the end of hostilities in 1945; the station was paid off in January 1946. The airport reverted to civilian use after the war and was sold to the Isle of Man Government in 1948 for £200,000, a fraction of the sums the UK Government and Admiralty had earlier spent on construction and purchase. Terminal extensions were carried out from 1998 to 2000 and further works were funded from 2006. In 2008 Tynwald approved a major runway extension and resurfacing project, extending the runway by 245 metres out into the Irish Sea on a rock-armoured promontory, completed in 2011; the project subsequently allowed the Boeing 757 to become the largest aircraft able to operate fully from Ronaldsway.
The airport continues to operate scheduled services to destinations in the UK and Ireland, with Loganair and easyJet among the operating carriers, and general aviation handled separately through dedicated aviation services on the field. Published opening hours run Monday to Sunday from 05:30 until the last flight of the day.
