Aircraft Registry income and costs (FOI)

Request

I would be grateful if you could please provide an answer to the questions below regarding the Aircraft Registry:

A

How many planes are currently on the register?

B

How much has the Registry cost to the Government so far? Please provide a breakdown of the costs by category (for example, IT, marketing, insurance, and so on) and by year.

C

How much income has the Registry generated so far? Please provide a breakdown by year.

Response

A

The number of aircraft currently on the Aircraft Register is available in the public domain, therefore Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. This information can be located on the www.gov.je website, in the following link:

Jersey Aircraft Registry (gov.je)

B

The majority of cost (including a breakdown by category) of the Aircraft Registry to Government so far, is available in the public domain, therefore Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. This information can be located on the States Assembly website, in the following link:

Written Question 1240/5/1 (152) from Deputy Mezec to EDTSC re cost of jersey aircraft registry.pdf (gov.je)

Following an internal review of Registry performance in late 2016, a decision to pursue a new Aircraft Registry business model was taken. As a consequence of this decision, further expenditure was almost exclusively limited to Officer time and insurance costs. The latter has been payable in US dollars and has required a budget of approximately £8,000 - £9,000 per annum with effect from 1 January 2017.

Operational responsibility for the Aircraft Registry was formally transferred to Ports of Jersey Limited with effect from 1 May 2020, in accordance with the terms of a Ministerial decision made on 8 February 2019. Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied as this information can be located on the www.gov.je website and can be found in the following link:

Jersey Aircraft Registry: Memorandum of Understanding (gov.je)

The Government of Jersey has incurred the following non-recurring costs that are directly attributable to the Registry since the transfer was effected:

• development of documentation (Aviation Requirements and Advisory Circulars) - £25,000

• internal audit - £5,300

In addition, the Government of Jersey retains responsibility for the employment of a Registrar. Since March 2020, this responsibility has been discharged by a Registrar of Aircraft and Shipping at an annual cost of £80,500. While it would be reasonable to attribute broadly 50% (circa £40,000 per annum) of these costs to the Jersey Aircraft Registry for 2020, it should be noted that workloads attributable to aircraft and shipping, and maritime registration, and policy activity have fluctuated over time.

C

Income generated so far by the Aircraft Registry is already in the public domain, therefore Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. This information can be found on the www.gov.je website, in response to a previous FOI request. Please see the following link:

Jersey Aircraft Registry running costs and income (FOI)

The Aircraft Registry did not generate income in 2018 or 2019.

Any income generated following the transfer of operational responsibility effected in May 2020 was payable to Ports of Jersey Limited. This information is not held by Government. Ports of Jersey Limited can be contacted via their website: ask@ports.je  

Article applied

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.