Meetings to discuss Blue Islands matters

2025.11.25

3.2   Deputy M. Tadier of St. Brelade of the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development regarding meetings he attended in June 2025 to discuss matters relating to Blue Islands (OQ.258/2025):

I am just caught without my Order Paper, so I am just going to borrow Deputy Kovacs 's laptop. It is good to have such an organised colleague. Will the Minister detail what meetings, if any, he attended in June 2025 to discuss matters relating to Blue Islands and, if any meetings took place, will he advise when these took place, who chaired such meetings, and the key subjects that were discussed?

Deputy K.F. Morel of St. John , St. Lawrence and Trinity (The Minister for Sustainable Economic

Development):

Because the Treasury Minister was unavailable, I chaired a meeting with representatives of Blue Islands on 12th June to receive an update on the airline's sales process and the steps it had taken to mitigate the disruption to its service, following the widely reported technical difficulties it had experienced earlier in the year. I also attended an internal meeting chaired by the Treasury Minister to discuss Blue Islands' financial position on 13th June.

1. Deputy M. Tadier :

Can the Minister confirm what options were considered at this meeting and, for example, whether options relating to the sale of Blue Islands to, for example, either Loganair or Aurigny were considered and what other options were considered, and what the Minister's reaction was to the suggestions that were put forward during that meeting?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

Assuming the Deputy is referring to the meeting on 12th June, going from memory we met Blue Islands' representatives and they discussed their attempts to acquire a sale of the company. Then I believe it is the financial performance and the forward look from their perspective possibly with some options. I am going off memory, so I do not entirely recall. I believe that was it, it was discussing Blue Islands in a situation around Blue Islands and with Blue Islands.

2. Deputy J. Renouf of St. Brelade :

Was the matter of subsidies for new routes discussed at any of these meetings, given that that indeed was something that the Minister eventually put in place?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

No, we have not. I think it is important, again, we have agreed to pay for costs and contingency. We had no discussion on subsidies for new routes. There are no subsidies for new routes, to my knowledge, with this Loganair situation and there was not particularly, except maybe on the Paris Charles de Gaulle but that was not directly by our Government. There was not really any subsidies for new routes on the Blue Islands side either.

3. Deputy J. Renouf :

I am trying to get at whether there were discussions around new routes with the airline at the time when they were clearly in financial difficulties. The point being that an airline that is in financial difficulties, questions might be asked about whether or not new routes are appropriate in that situation. Could I ask the question again? Were new routes discussed at all with the airline and did the Government take any view about whether it was wise for the airline to be proposing new routes at a time when it was clearly in such distress?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

I do not recall whether new routes were discussed. It would seem an odd thing to discuss in that meeting because that meeting was very much about Blue Islands and its position with regard to acquiring a sale and so forth. I do not recall discussing new routes, though it is possible that was discussed. It would not have been the natural within the subject of that meeting.

4. Deputy K.M. Wilson of St. Clement :

Of the options discussed, could the Minister explain if there were any that he felt were unacceptable or not agreed to by Government and, if so, why?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

If the Deputy could repeat that question, please. Deputy K.M. Wilson :

I was just asking whether the Minister, in terms of the discussion around what options were available to Government and Blue Islands, whether there were any options that he discounted and, if so, why?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

It depends where in the timeframe the Deputy is referring. If we are talking about June, as that was the premise of the question from Deputy Tadier , I do not think any things were discounted at that stage. This was very much the beginning of the process. As I said, we were discussing with Blue Islands, so we would not have had a discussion about what do Ministers think in front of Blue Islands. That would have happened at a different time.

5. Deputy K.M. Wilson :

Could the Minister just explain the process he went through to come to his own conclusions about what the best option would be for Government to undertake in relation to Blue Islands' fate?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

From my perspective, as Minister for Sustainable Economic Development, I want to ensure that we have resilient connectivity to the Island. From my perspective, that was the main aim that I wanted to ensure. If that, ultimately, ended up with Blue Islands not being able to continue to have a smoother transition from one operator to another was the other concern. Those are the 2 main concerns that I have had. I was relatively neutral on how that should be provided, who would provide that? But, as the Minister for Treasury and Resources spoke previously, not necessarily in these meetings in June but, ultimately, in the analysis Loganair because of its scale would appear to be a much more resilient provider. From that perspective, ultimately, I am very pleased that we have Loganair serving these routes.

6. Deputy R.S. Kovacs of St. Saviour :

I believe it is important to also acknowledge the swift and effective work by the Government and Ports in managing this transition, supporting both customers and affected staff from later in the weekend when this was announced and ongoing. But my question is: what specific safeguards has the Minister and the Government discussed, either in these meetings or elsewhere, to ensure that any future airline support schemes do not expose us to a similar level of risk as with the loss of Blue Islands?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

I do not know if those discussions have taken place. I am not aware of them particularly if they had. I do think we need to come back to - and I think this is something the Minister for Treasury and Resources may have been trying to express earlier - a previous Government during COVID provided support in order to maintain an airline and vital connectivity to the Island during an extraordinary pandemic. After that, any additional support that came within the last year, and that was very much about trying to ensure connectivity while the airline itself had troubles and, ultimately, seeking to find a smooth solution out of that. This is support during extraordinary periods of that airline's existence. This is not support during the ordinary run of the mill. It is very different to providing support to an air link just to support that route. This is very much about maintaining the airline's survival to provide connectivity itself.

7. Deputy R.S. Kovacs :

Given the lessons learnt from the Blue Islands' experience, how will the Government ensure stronger financial oversight than earlier intervention if a similar risk begins to emerge with any future airline partners?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

Government will always seek to maintain good financial oversight. But, ultimately, that financial oversight is undertaken by the Treasury Department and questions about financial oversight are best expressed to the Minister for Treasury and Resources.

8. Deputy I. Gardiner of St. Helier North :

P.A.C. (Public Accounts Committee) raised concerns about the Paris route affecting critical routes and the sustainability for Blue Islands. Would the Minister tell if he has been involved in supporting the Paris route and what sustainability assessment was presented to when the route was created for 2025?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

I must admit we have gone a very, very long way from the original question. The Bailiff :

Yes, that is right.

Deputy I. Gardiner :

I can rephrase the question.

The Bailiff :

Yes, all right.

Deputy I. Gardiner :

The sustainability of Blue Islands was questionable from 2024. Was the Minister part of the conversation for the introduction of a discretionary new route when the financial sustainability of the company was questionable?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

Honestly, I do not entirely recall. At some point it was said to me that Blue Islands were happy to do a Paris Charles de Gaulle route. From the top of my mind I think there is some financial support provided, though very little. But I was not involved in any big conversations about it. If I remember rightly, it was much more presented as a Blue Islands are happy to do this and I said: "That is great."

9. Deputy M. Tadier :

Without the timeline it is difficult to know whether we are talking about the same meetings. But our Scrutiny Panel has been given information that there was a meeting in June, it may not have been 12th June, at which a proposal was tabled for further discussion with Aurigny, with whom Blue Islands had identified substantial synergies through a merger to create a larger pan-Island airline. It was suggested that the Minister here dismissed that notion out of hand. Could the Minister confirm whether that was his recollection of that meeting and whether in fact that proposal was ever on the table? If so, can he try and remember maybe what his reaction might have been to that suggestion?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

I do not recall a proposal from Blue Islands about merging with Aurigny. I do not recall that. They may well have said that there is the possibility that they can. When I say I do not recall a proposal, I do not remember anyone sitting down and saying: "This is how a merger with Aurigny would work. This is how it would operate." I think Blue Islands said that that is possible that that could be done but I do not remember anything in detail around how that would happen. From that perspective ...

Deputy M. Tadier :

I was not asking about whether there was detail, I was asking whether it was proposed and what the reaction was?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

From my perspective, I have only ever been concerned about the resilience and so I can imagine that if that was put to me I would have expressed concern about the possible resilience, given the lack of scale about a merged or renewed Blue Islands' situation. That to me is very likely to have been a reaction from me because that is how I feel today, is Aurigny and Blue Islands merged would have been a very small airline suffering exactly the same issues around resilience that Blue Islands suffered.