Isle of Man ‘Rapidly Expanding Centre of Gravity'

A DYNAMIC, forward looking environment is a key factor in the emergence of the Isle of Man as Europe’s new aviation cluster, according to Mark Byrne, director of ICM Aviation Ltd.

This was the unequivocal message he delivered to a key aviation seminar in Reykjavik, Iceland, describing the Island as an “impressive and rapidly expanding centre of gravity.”  

“The key to this is the environment the Isle of Man Government has created.  It is important to give credit where credit is due,” he said. “We are talking of more than just a 'financial services cluster;' there are also first-class aircraft management and maintenance capabilities on the Island that are seeing an increasing number of aircraft taking advantage of their services. There are also a number of manufacturing companies, both new and long established, serving the aviation and aerospace industries that give the Isle of Man world class engineering capabilities.”

Byrne also said the island was a good venue for completing aircraft sales as well as a convenient point of arrival and departure for private aircraft crossing the Atlantic. 

The success of the Aircraft Registry has really helped put the Isle of Man on the map and has been a great help in attracting aircraft traffic, whether Manx registered or not, to the Island. This traffic buys a whole range of Manx services while they are here and thus the economic benefit to the Island extends far beyond the Airport’s perimeter fence.

The Isle of Man Aircraft Register was launched on May 1, 200,7 and of the 278 aircraft that have been registered, ICM Aviation has earned revenue from around 25 percent of them. This has been by way of importing, registering and assisting to offer corporate services through its sister company, Inter-Continental Management Ltd, a trust and corporate services provider licenced by the Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission, or a combination of two or more of these services.

“The Island offers a unique range of services for aircraft operators and owners,” Byrne’s said.