Jersey Aircraft Registry without any planes closed for 'commercial underperformance'

Jersey's government has confirmed it is closing the island's aircraft registry, which only ever had four planes registered. Credit: ITV Channel

Jersey's underperforming Aircraft Registry is being wound up by the island's government.

It comes after ITV News revealed that there are no longer any aircraft registered in Jersey.

At its peak, there were just four planes signed on to the registry, which originally promised to generate £20 million for the island's economy.

The last remaining aircraft de-registered on Thursday 27 October. Credit: Government of Jersey

The island's Economic Development Minister, Deputy Kirsten Morel, made the decision to close the registry:

"My decision has been based on JAR’s commercial underperformance, which does not represent value for Jersey taxpayers, and because additional investment would be needed to enhance its regulatory compliance, if it were to continue.

"I am grateful to those clients who have supported the registry during its operation, and would underline that this decision will have no impact on Jersey’s numerous and diverse flight connections and services."

Deputy Kirsten Morel made the decision to close the Jersey Aircraft Registry Credit: ITV Channel

He added that Jersey would require the same level of investment whether its registry had one plane or 1,000 registered - so keeping it open in its current form does not represent value for money.

Deputy Morel says aviation is of "fundamental importance to Jersey", and officers are working on a new 'aviation strategy':

"Within the scope of this work – and as one of several aviation initiatives – they will investigate how Jersey can benefit from registry-related activity in the future.

"They will identify the reasons for the JAR’s underperformance and any decisions on future registry-related activity will be mindful of those reasons, to ensure that we learn from our experiences of operating the JAR to date."