Thales has renewed its contract with a five-year agreement to continue its Flight Inspection Service operations for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) at Teesside Airport, having held a lease at the location since 1996.
The agreement also includes improvements to its 7,500 square foot hangar, from where Thales provides flight inspection services for navigation aids used by military and civil aircraft, which includes checking Instrument Landing Systems, VHF Omnidirectional Range beacons, Distance Measuring Equipment, TACAN (Tactical Air Navigation), and Precision Approach Radar. Teesside is the ideal base for the company due to its central location in the UK, providing access to the length of the country.
“We’ve been the sole supplier to the MoD for Flight Checking since 1996,” said John Hogan, Manager of Thales Flight Inspection Service. “Military and Civil aircraft rely on us to ensure the safety of their airports. We look after every single airport for the MoD worldwide. Even when at war, we were out in Afghanistan, Iraq, looking after the installations out there for them. We’ve just come back from Akrotiri – we go to The Falklands twice a year, Gibraltar, and we’ve got our ever-growing civil customers.”
Thales has a Hawker Beechcraft B200 and a Diamond DA42MNG based in the UK to perform its inspections, in addition to a Britten Norman Islander in the Falklands.
“Thales has been an incredibly loyal and a long-standing partner to Teesside Airport,” commented Victoria Ashby, Head of Property and Development at Teesside Airport. “We’re proud to have a firm which has helped keep our armed forces safe, secure and finely tuned for almost three decades at our airport – and we’re very pleased to secure their time here until 2030 at the earliest.”
Ashby continued: “Our Business Park is now one of the fastest growing in the country, with Airbourne Colours, Willis Aviation and Draken all expanding their operations. It means the future is bright and we’d urge other companies to consider us – with our freeport benefits, ideal position in the centre of the UK, and freight potential.”
Photos: Thales
