A TEENAGER dubbed Baby Branson is considering Dundee as a destination for his airline.
Martin Halstead (19), whose airline Alpha 1 Airways currently has a route from the Isle of Man to Edinburgh, said during a visit to the city yesterday that he was “very keen” on Dundee as a destination.
He said, “We met representatives from Dundee Airport at a conference in September, though I have been very keen on Dundee as a route for the last 18 months.
“I would say it is very likely that we will provide a route from Dundee in the future … to other business centres in Britain, like Birmingham or Manchester.”
Martin spoke to Scottish Enterprise Tayside’s Young Entrepreneurs Network about his career. He loved flying as a child and qualified as one of Europe’s youngest pilots, then started a company designing flight simulators.
He used the reported ÂŁ300,000 from the sale of this to set up his own airline, which was initially to fly between Oxford and Cambridge, before setting up in the Isle of Man.
He said, “I decided not to go to university, but to start in business as soon as possible. I think the most important factors for being a successful entrepreneur are to be incredibly resilient and have a lot of self-belief.”
The service from the Isle of Man to Edinburgh should have begun this month but has been hit by a delay in the delivery of a new plane.
Jill Farrell, SET director of business growth, said, “It’s fantastic to have someone as inspirational as Martin sharing the highs and lows of his experience.”
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2006/02/01/newsstory7984554t0.asp
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