Blue Islands owes almost £67,000 in unpaid tax and social security contributions – on top of the £9.1m already owed to the Government.
The airline officially went into liquidation earlier this month whilst owing £9.1m to the Government and almost £3.3m to the Ports of Jersey.
A Government statement yesterday revealed that it is possible that ITIS and social security contributions owed for the month before the airline ceased trading and entered liquidation might not get paid.
Blue Islands had £36,596 in outstanding ITIS payments and £30,396.82 in outstanding social security contributions as of October.
Government said it would be making a claim “for all money owing to it”.
The update was provided a day after Treasury Minister Elaine Millar told the States Assembly that the Government will be submitting a claim to Blue Islands’ liquidators and expects that the bulk of “recent funds” given to the airline prior to its collapse can be reclaimed.
The financial support provided by Government has included a £10 million loan facility – of which £8.5 million was drawn down – to secure lifeline air connectivity during the pandemic, as well as funding of £1.2 million, £0.5 million given to Blue Islands earlier this year to prevent the airline collapsing before “effective contingency arrangements” were in place.
As with many businesses that cease trading, bills that were due to be paid after the point it ceased operations may not now be paid
government statement regarding blue islands
In a statement issued yesterday, the Government said: “The majority of Blue Islands’ outstanding debt to government is from the Covid loan facility and was drawn between July 2020 and April 2021.”
It continued: “A total of £7 million of capital and £0.4 million of interest from this loan is outstanding.
“The loan was secured and thanks to that security we expect to recover sums to cover the majority of the money Government has recently provided to Blue Islands.”
The statement also said that Blue Islands was up to date with its tax and social security payments, including ITIS.
But it noted that: “As with many businesses that cease trading, bills that were due to be paid after the point it ceased operations may not now be paid.”
This included October balances of £36,596.00 in ITIS and £30,396.82 in social security contributions.
“The Government will make a claim to the liquidators for all money owing to it,” the statement added.
“If Blue Islands made any payments to staff for November before declaring insolvency, it is possible there may be an additional outstanding ITIS and social security contributions for that month.”