Campaigners' report “had no bearing on Airport Terminal decision”

Monday 01 March 2021

Jersey’s Director of Civil Aviation has said that she did not consider a report commissioned by heritage campaigners when she decided that the original Airport terminal can remain.

On Friday, Ports of Jersey said that that Acting DCA Inez Bartolo - who previously held the post of Airport Director - had rescinded the requirement from a predecessor of hers to remove the arrivals building following “her own careful investigations, based on improvements in the maturity of safety management systems."

Mrs Bartolo told Express that, in making her decision, she had not considered a report by aviation service company ASAP, which concluded that the 1937 building did not constitute a hazard to aircraft and that its retention would not affect operations, even in poor visibility.

The Save Jersey’s Heritage-commissioned report judged the building to comply with international standards for the licensing of airports, and did not need to be demolished.

Pictured: Jersey's former Airport Director was appointed as Deputy Director of Civil Aviation, but became Acting Director after a Guernsey report accused the main postholder, Dominic Lazarus, of "gross incompetence".

Asked whether she had considered the report and if it factored into her decision, Mrs Bartolo said: “Neither, to be honest. The ASAP report was written by Civil Aviation Authority-approved procedure designers that had been contracted by a third party to address the original comment made by the DCA in 2010 [which said that the building was not compliant with aviation safety standards].  

“Separately, and as required in regulation, Ports of Jersey already had a formal arrangement in place with their own CAA-approved organisation that designs and validates procedures, which must then be submitted to the CAA for acceptance. My review included a review of the Ports of Jersey submission to the CAA.

“When I took up my role as Acting DCA for Jersey, I was aware of the previous DCA correspondence on the Arrivals Terminal and decided to conduct a safety review, based on the original letter of 2010 and the improvements in the maturity of aviation Safety Management Systems (SMS) in the intervening years. 

“These improvements include the control measures Ports of Jersey have in place to assure safe operations through their own mature SMS, as well as global advancements with modern aircraft and associated navigation systems, which offer stabilised and accurate approaches into airports. 

“This, coupled with the assurances provided by accurate flight procedure designs, contributed to my decision that the comments made in the 2010 DCA letter were no longer appropriate.”

Video: Airport revamp plans will now be adjusted to incorporate the 1937 terminal block.

Asked what those SMS measures were, Airport Director Robin MacRae, said: “Aviation is one of the most heavily regulated industries on the Island. We continue to invest significant time and resource in a very robust SMS at Jersey Airport, which is used to comprehensively manage all aviation safety risks; from those associated with potential aircraft bird strikes, to drone/UAV activity, our Air Traffic Control Services and indeed every other part of the aviation system, including the location of the Airport Arrivals building and its proximity to the runway.

“We presented our risk assessment on the location of the Airport Arrivals Building to the Acting DCA, who after careful consideration has accepted the control measures we have in place to assure safe operations. 

“It is on this basis that the Arrivals building is no longer considered to be a significant safety concern from a regulatory perspective.” 

Ports of Jersey was first told in 2010 by the DCA of the day, Fergus Woods, that he would take licensing action if the 1937 building, among others, were not removed. This decision was later confirmed by DCA Dominic Lazarus in 2018 and 2020.

The basis of their decision was that the building broke into a cone of space, rising at a 1:7 gradient from both sides of the runway, which must be clear of objects. 

The original terminal also meant the taxiway has to kink around the building, requiring taxiing aircraft to move closer to the runway. 

Pictured: The taxiway has to bend around the buildings.

However, Mrs Bartolo said that her decision was based “on the aerodrome infrastructure already in place – in other words, with the 'kink' in the taxiway”.

Her decision means that an independent planning inspector’s report into the demolition of the building has now been scrapped and Ports can resume its £42m redevelopment plans, which had been suspended when the pandemic struck.

The plans will be updated, however, to incorporate the historic Arrivals building.