Former flybe. (2002) franchisee Blue Islands (SI, Jersey) has reached an agreement with the Government of Jersey for a GBP10 million pound (USD12.6 million) loan as a part of a 10-year deal to base its operations out of Jersey and to add new routes.

"We have been working really hard behind the scenes over the past few months with the aim of re-emerging, post-pandemic, stronger and better than ever. We look forward to serving the Channel Islands again with extensive Guernsey schedules to Jersey, Southampton and beyond, together with our services from Jersey to Bristol International, Southampton and new routes to Birmingham, GB and Exeter," Chief Executive Rob Veron said.

He added that the airline, which launched a new brand identity and website to celebrate its relaunch as an independent regional operator, will make more announcements "in the coming days and weeks ahead".

The Government of Jersey said the loan to Blue Islands would be repayable over six years. Under the terms of the deal with the authorities, Blue Islands will base its activities out of Jersey for at least the upcoming ten years.

"Blue Islands serves the smaller, regional UK airports that either cannot accommodate larger planes or are not commercially viable for the larger aircraft used by easyJet (London Luton) and British Airways (BA, London Heathrow)... This loan will also offer opportunities to develop more direct routes into European countries, and it provides an alternative to the larger airlines, for whom Jersey is a small operation," Jersey's Minister for Treasury and Resources Susie Pinel said.

Blue Islands currently operates four ATR72-500s and has a single ATR42-300 in maintenance at Billund airport, the ch-aviation fleets module shows. Following the bankruptcy of flybe. in early March 2020, Blue Islands is currently the only scheduled airline to use Jersey as a base.