FEATURE
Spanish eyes – Ryanair has announced its popular Teesside to Malaga flights will now be scheduled all year round.
Lease – Safety-critical flight inspection company Thales has signed a new five-year agreement with the airport.
CLEARED FOR
GROWTH
Teesside Airport is delivering jobs, trade and more opportunities for travel
PICTURE: Paul Heasman
Businesses and passengers alike are benefitting from the most recent developments at Teesside International Airport.
A £ 12.5m package for airport infrastructure – recently signed off by the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority( TVCA) cabinet – is helping key tenants Draken Europe, Willis Aviation Services and Airbourne Colours grow.
These are forecast to help create 250 new jobs and unlock £ 16m of private sector spending – with the potential for more to come.
Hot on the heels of the announcement, progress is roaring ahead on creating a huge new twin-bay hangar for international aviation company Willis. The 50-ft-high facility is taking shape on the airport’ s north side to cater for the company’ s growing operations.
The 100m x 50m hangar will be equipped for 737 and A320 family aircraft, including new-generation models, and expands on the company’ s existing base at Teesside.
The new facility is expected to create a significant number of new highly skilled jobs at Teesside and is a further vote of confidence in the vision to develop Teesside Airport as a centre for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul.
Meanwhile, a safety-critical flight inspection company that has served the UK military for almost 30 years has signed a new lease to cement its place at Teesside Airport.
Thales has penned a five-year agreement with the airport as part of a deal that also includes improvements to its home hangar. The company provides safety assurance for navigation systems and radars at Ministry of Defence sites all over the globe – with an ever-growing portfolio of civil airfields now also on its books.
The agreement means the company’ s operation will retain Teesside as its base until 2030 at the earliest.
Elsewhere on the site, work is now underway to create a cutting-edge digital testing ground to make trade even easier for businesses.
The new 5G-enabled‘ Teesside Digital Trade Test Bed’ on the airport’ s north side will see a private network cover a large stretch of the site to help carry out a wide
Lease – Safety-critical flight inspection company Thales has signed a new five-year agreement with the airport.
range of trade, goods movements and digital processes.
Building work has begun to create a facility to test freight-scanning software technologies, a covered workshop and cabins, plus lighting and security fences.
The collaboration between Teesside University and the TVCA aims to ease practical problems which hamper operations in customs zones.
Finally, it’ s good news for passengers across Tees Valley as Ryanair has announced its Malaga flights are now running all year round, taking off twice a week.
These were originally due to last until October but thanks to their popularity, even more Spanish sun will be available on flights jetting off on Wednesdays and Sundays after the summer season ends.
40 | Tees Business