The States of Guernsey have impounded two planes leased by the collapsed airline Blue Islands.
The government said the airline owes it an unspecified amount of money.
The situation developed over the weekend after Blue Islands announced late on Friday evening that it had “suspended all operations immediately”.
At the time a spokesperson for the airline said the immediate suspension was triggered because Jersey’s Government was unable to provide it with further financial support, and that it was “considering options”.
President of the States’ Trading Supervisory Board, Deputy Mark Helyar has today confirmed that the two leased aircraft are being held at Guernsey Airport following Blue Islands collapse, but he was unable to shed light on how much money is owed.
Given the commercial nature, it wouldn’t be appropriate at this stage to give all of the detail about the amount Blue Islands owes to the States of Guernsey,” he said. “However, I can say that the charges are due to operational costs such as landing fees.
“Naturally, I want to do everything possible to ensure Guernsey taxpayers receive the money owed to them. As such, on Saturday we took the decision to detain the two Blue Islands aircraft currently at Guernsey Airport.
“These are aircraft leased by Blue Islands, but under the relevant Guernsey law – which is similar to legislation elsewhere in this regard – such aircraft can be held by authorities in order to assist with recovery of monies owed. We will take all steps within our authority to recover monies owed.”
More to follow…