Private jet firm Gama Aviation faces more flak as co-founder brings £20m court case

Gama Aviation, the private jets business which this week faced shareholder calls to oust one of its directors, faces a looming court battle over a £20 million claim by its co-founder.

Dustin Dryden helped create Gama in its current form by merging into it his Hangar8 business. But he claims the company ripped him off on a series of deals aimed at smoothing his departure after the deal went through.

He claims to have negotiated an exit package with Gama finance director Kevin Godley, under which he would sell his shares in Gama but pledge to use some proceeds to buy a plane and large numbers of parts from the company, thus minimising the financial damage to Gama.

But he claims hundreds of the parts either were not delivered or failed to have the correct paperwork and is suing for £12.2 million of either “debt or damages” plus a further £6.5 million for the parts.

Godley has recently quit Gama. Gama declined to comment on the case, which begins next week.