
This year opened in a challenging way for the Isle of Man Aircraft Registry, which is now the largest corporate/private aircraft registry in Europe and the sixth largest aircraft registry in the world. Just as it prepared to announce its 1,000th registration, the BBC Panorama Paradise Papers—based on documents leaked from Appleby, which has a key office on the Isle of Man—reported that jet owners such as F1 racing champion Lewis Hamilton were avoiding taxes by running their aircraft through an offshore company. The Isle of Man government imposed a news blackout as it braved the media storm, and at the same time industry insiders on the island, of which there are a growing number, fumed at the injustice of being tarred with this brush. For a start, Hamilton races in Grand Prix races all around the globe for a fair proportion of the year, and if that isn’t business, what is?