Waves owes close to £20,000 in tax

Founder and director Nick Magliocchetti consented to the action in the Royal Court and said the debt would have been cleared the day before if his company could have afforded to pay it.

He said investor confidence in the airline had been poor and it was trying to win this back and it was in the process of raising funds.

Deputy-Bailiff Richard McMahon asked Mr Magliocchetti what effect the States decision last week to introduce an open skies policy on all routes bar Gatwick and Alderney would have on the airline.

‘If it had happened a year ago we wouldn’t be in the position we are in today,’ said Mr Magliocchetti.

Mr McMahon said that whether the States decision was an example of non-joined up thinking or not, it meant that Waves would potentially be able to fly anywhere apart from Gatwick or Alderney going forward.

With that in mind he felt the need to demonstrate that he was a generous man and said it would be counter-productive to enter judgment which would carry interest when he could give the company one last opportunity to clear the debt within 14 days.

When he asked Mr Magliocchetti if the company still passed the solvency test, he was told that this was something that the airline was watching closely.

For the States of Guernsey, Crown Advocate Jason Hill had asked for judgment in the sums of £10,674.79 and £8,990.10.

The first related to unpaid income tax from the fourth quarter of last year and the second to the first quarter of 2018.

There had been good service, he said, and the matter had already been adjourned two weeks before.

The action was brought against Wave Technologies Ltd, whose address for business is Picquet House, St Peter Port.

Last month, Waves announced that it was cancelling all of its flights until September in order to refocus its business.