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19-21 Broad Street | St Helier Jersey | JE2 4WE
By email
19th June 2023
Dear Chair,
Service at Jersey Airport
Thank you for your letter of 9th June, in which you provide a number of questions with regards to recent media reports on the poor service' at Jersey Airport. I have set out below answers to each of these in turn:
- We note from the media that you have held urgent talks with airport management and Swissport in a bid to ensure no repeat of the disruption faced by those arriving and departing on Saturday. Could you inform the Panel of what the outcome of the talks to which the press report refers together with what commitments have been made to you as Minister.
I have been briefed by Swissport's Chief Operating Officer on their actions to address the situation and the company's plans to ensure they provide the required service levels. The Board of Swissport and Ports of Jersey are monitoring the implementation of the remediation plan daily. Further, Ports is supplementing the service with their own staff whilst Swissport strive to improve the resilience of its operation. Swissport is seeking to recruit additional staff in Jersey and in the interim will be seconding staff from its UK operations to provide additional support. Ports of Jersey and Swissport have continued to meet regularly to monitor the situation and I have been assured by Swissport that the disruption experienced by passengers on Saturday 3rd June will not be repeated.
- Could you also inform us how staffing issues are to be addressed in the medium to long term in light of the general staffing issues across the Island which was referred to by the Jersey Fiscal Policy Panel. We would be grateful if you could also provide us with information on what support is to be provided by the Minister in this respect, what changes we should expect to see within Port of Jersey's structure and what will be the incentive to ensure any agreed changes take place?
It is important to note that Swissport operates as an independent company, contracted directly by the airlines to perform ground handling operations and that any structural changes or commercial incentives will therefore take place within Swissport rather than Ports of Jersey. As noted above, Swissport is seeking to recruit additional staff in Jersey and in the interim have seconded staff from its UK operations to provide additional support.
- While the Panel is aware that in our recent hearing public hearing with you, the Director for Economy advised that the Department's Value for Money' review of ALOs would be looking into the value to the public of levels of remuneration of senior staff of ALOs. Please would you offer any comment that you may have on the connection that Islanders are beginning to make between the salary of the CEO of Ports of Jersey being based on financial performance rather than services to Islanders and benchmarking with other airport directors being distorted by the lack of competition locally.
It is important to note that Ports of Jersey is not a Government ALO, rather it is a States Owned Entity (SOE) and therefore the management and governance of PoJ is managed via the shareholder function of the Minister for Treasury and Resources. It would therefore be inappropriate for me to comment on the salary of the Ports of Jersey CEO.
I hope the above provides clarity to the areas you have raised. Yours sincerely,
Deputy Kirsten Morel
Deputy Chief Minister
Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport, and Culture E k.morel2@gov.je
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