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Dundee businessman on why he pulled out of bid to buy Tayside Aviation

Entrepreneur Jim Duffy said he was interested in tabling a bid to buy the flight school, but has pulled out having examined its finances.

Jim Duffy expressed an interest in buying Tayside Aviation.
Jim Duffy expressed an interest in buying Tayside Aviation.

A Dundee businessman who was prepared to invest millions of pounds into Tayside Aviation is walking away from a deal with administrators.

Jim Duffy met with the administrators of the Dundee flight school and reviewed the company’s finances with an eye to making an offer to save the business.

He also visited its base at Dundee Airport.

However, despite previously trying to buy the company, Mr Duffy says he “can’t make the numbers work” on a deal this time.

Tayside Aviation, owned by millionaire entrepreneur Tony Banks, collapsed into administration last month.

It left 22 staff without jobs. Students studying at the historic flight school were also left facing uncertain futures and thousands of pounds out of pocket.

‘I couldn’t make Tayside Aviation bid work’

Mr Duffy, is best-known as co-founder of Entrepreneurial Spark, a business accelerator programme. He received an MBE for his services to the business community.

He is also a prominent Bitcoin investor, who organised a Scottish conference last year.

Mr Duffy previously tried to buy the business in 2021 and planned to invest around £3 million – but it had already been sold to Mr Banks.

He said he could not understand how the business had fallen into difficulties since then.

He added: “For 20 years or so, the previous owner was able to run the business profitably.

“How did it go so disastrously wrong so quickly?”

A Tayside Aviation flight landing in Dundee.
A Tayside Aviation flight landing in Dundee. Image: DC Thomson

He said the costs involved were too substantial for him to make a purchase financially viable.

Mr Duffy said: “The costs were just too great – I don’t know how anyone could buy the business without really significant money.

“I hope for the sake of Dundee someone comes in and is able to do a deal. I understand the administrators are considering bids at the moment.

“It’s such a shame, but I won’t be bidding for it.”

Previous attempt to buy Tayside Aviation

Mr Duffy contacted the then-owners to enquire about acquiring the company in November 2021.

Entrepreneur Tony Banks. Image: Balhousie Care Group.

Mr Duffy said: “I’d just completed my pilot’s license.

“I was looking at Jim and Kate Watt and wondering what their succession plan was.

“I made contact, but I missed it by two weeks.”

Jim Duffy’s vision for Dundee flight school

Had he been successful at that time, Mr Duffy said he would have kept the former owners involved.

“I maybe would’ve structured a deal where they got 50% of their cash and then in three years’ time they would’ve got the other 50% based on how we’d grown the company together.

“I would’ve upgraded the aircraft.”

He said he would’ve invested upwards of £3m in the business had he been successful.

Dundee entrepreneur Jim Duffy.
Jim Duffy was interested in buying Tayside Aviation. Image: DC Thomson.

Students and their parents have been calling for Mr Banks to provide answers around the collapse of the flight school.

How to restore faith in Tayside Aviation?

Mr Duffy added it will take a potential buyer to restore public faith in the collapsed Dundee flight school.

“This news has percolated around the UK that Tayside Aviation is a dead duck,” he said.

“If someone was to market Tayside Aviation, is it a phoenix rising from the ashes? Right now it just looks like a tarnished old business.

“It doesn’t feel modern or contemporary. You’d have to spend a great deal of money buying brand new aircraft.

“All the staff have gone too. They’re not just going to jump back and where does that start?

Flight school Tayside Aviation is based at Dundee Airport.
Tayside Aviation collapsed into administration last month. Image: Kris Miller/DC Thomson.

“Whoever goes in has to have a big vision and deep pockets.”

Administrators previously said a “significant” number of potential buyers had expressed an interest in saving the firm.

Last month they said their focus was on finder a buyer for the whole business, rather than for specific assets.

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