Earlier this year, Ports of Jersey scrapped its £ 42million redevelopment plan for the airport and confirmed it would keep the 1937 terminal after receiving new safety advice from aviation regulator Inez Bartolo.

Now, the future design is to be part of a larger planning exercise that will not only examine these investment plans, but also consider how changes to airport operations might help Jersey meet ambitions to become a more sustainable island.

Mr MacRae said the topic of sustainability was high on the agenda for the new master planning work, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

He said: “It’s not just about carbon. It’s about how we treat our waste and how we use our water.

“Anything that can have an impact on the planet and, therefore, can have an impact on the island is going to be incorporated into the master plan.

“For example, the electrification of airplanes, the potential use of hydrogen as fuel for airplanes in the future – these are the kinds of things that we have to get involved in now because they are going to happen.”

The airport manager confirmed that Ports of Jersey had previously met with representatives from Save Jersey’s Heritage, which lobbied to prevent the demolition of the original 1937 terminal, to discuss plans the heritage group presented for the building in May.

They argued that the departures hall could continue to play a role at the heart of a functioning airport and could be improved by changes to the redevelopment plan, which encroached on the views of the original building.

Mr MacRae said it was too early to say whether these proposals, prepared with input from an architect specializing in 1930s design, were practical or not, but described them as “not a no”.