Flight school Tayside Aviation has appointed administrators.
Based at Dundee Airport, the CAA-approved centre has been giving training for 53 years, providing courses from private pilot licences to full commercial airline licences - as well as delivering the RAF Air Cadet Pilot Scheme for more than 30 years.
However, the joint administrators were advised that at the time of purchase by the existing owner in December 2021, the company had a significant liability for prepaid flying courses, the delivery of which adversely affected its ability to generate income from new sales, as man-hours and air slots were being utilised to honour legacy prepaid courses.
At the same time, further challenges arose through delays in onboarding senior personnel, which adversely impacted business performance.
Despite a significant investment from the shareholder of £1.5m in addition to the purchase price, these issues have led to ongoing working capital requirements that are unable to be funded.
Despite the efforts of the shareholder and directors - who explored various funding and sale options - cashflow pressures have intensified, resulting in the directors having no option but to cease trading.
This means that 22 of the company’s 25 employees have been made redundant.
Blair Nimmo, chief executive of Interpath Advisory and a joint administrator, said: “Clearly this is a disappointing outcome for everyone involved in this well-known and long-established business.
“Our priority is to assist those members of staff who have been made redundant, providing them with the information and support they need to claim their statutory entitlements from the Redundancy Payments Office at this very difficult time.”
Geoff Jacobs, managing director at Interpath Advisory, added: “We will be taking all steps to rapidly assess whether there are any parties who would have an interest in the business and assets, and would advise those with an interest to make contact quickly.
“We appreciate that there will be many customers who are in receipt of pre-paid flying hours - we will collate details of these parties from company records and include them within the list of creditors, whom we shall contact in due course to advise of the claim process.”
The directors and shareholder stated: “Our thoughts are with our dedicated team, as well as the students and RAF cadets profoundly affected by the closure.
“We are devastated that, after many months of tireless work, we have been unable to save this incredible business that has made Dundee an aviation hub for over 50 years.
“We will provide all assistance to the administrators in order to ensure our employees and cadets are treated as fairly as possible.”
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