A Manxman has landed the top job at a regional airline.

Peter Simpson has taken over the reigns at Loganair as the company’s acting chief executive after Jonathan Hinkles announced his resignation last Friday.

Mr Hinkles, who had been chief executive officer of the regional airline for seven years, informed his employees and the public of his decision to quit via a LinkedIn post last week, saying that it was time for a change for the airline and himself.

Peter Simpson, who was born and raised on the island, began his career in aviation over 35 years ago and has spent his entire life working in the aviation and travel industry.

His first job after leaving school at age 16 was working for AT Mays travel agency.

He landed a role at Manx Airlines working as a ticket sales return clerk, a job that sat on the bottom rung of the job ladder within the airline’s finance team.

Mr Simpson subsequently worked his way up the chain at Manx Airlines and eventually became the company’s financial controller.

In March 2015, he was appointed chief executive officer of Flybmi, a regional airline which had been a part of the International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) since 2012.

Mr Simpson’s new role as Loganair’s acting chief executive means that he is now in charge of the UK’s largest regional airline.

His predecessor, Mr Hinkles, slammed rival airline EasyJet for their treatment of the Isle of Man just days before announcing he'd left his position as CEO of Loganair.