Teesside Airport: Thales signs new five-year lease

Thales, which has served the UK military for nearly 30 years, has signed a new agreement with the airport, ensuring its presence at Teesside until at least 2030.

The deal also includes improvements to its hangar.

The company provides safety assurance for navigation systems and radars at Ministry of Defence (MoD) sites worldwide, as well as an increasing number of civil airfields.(Image: Thales)

The company’s operation will retain Teesside as its base until 2030 at the earliest.

Thales Flight Inspection Service conducts flight inspection services to ensure the navigation aids used by military and civil aircraft are safe, accurate and operating in accordance with the regulations.

These systems are crucial for ensuring aircraft can land safely and navigate accurately, particularly in challenging environments or during poor weather.

John Hogan, manager of Thales Flight Inspection Service, said: “We’ve been the sole supplier to the MoD for flight checking since 1996.(Image: Thales)

“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.”

Thales’ services include checking systems such as Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), which help planes land safely in low visibility, VHF Omnidirectional Range (VOR) beacons, and Distance Measuring Equipment (DME), which guide aircraft.

The firm also oversees more specialist military systems such as TACAN (Tactical Air Navigation) and Precision Approach Radar used on Ministry of Defence (MoD) bases worldwide.

They also test Primary and Secondary Radar Systems including deployable assets as well as the UK’s Air Defence radar systems.

Thales operates two aircraft based in the UK – a Hawker Beechcraft B200, and a Diamond DA42MNG – all specially modified to perform these inspections.

A Britten Norman Islander based in the Falklands has been modified specifically for this biannual visit.

The missions are flown by highly experienced pilots and flight inspectors who are equipped with specialist systems.

They gather data from the air to assess whether ground-based navigation and radar systems are functioning to high international standards.

Mr Hogan said: “On top of our MoD commitments, we’ve got more civil work coming in and we’re getting that at a rate of knots at the moment.

“It’s most definitely on an upward trajectory.

“We’re fully anticipating growing the business and that will ultimately lead to more staff and assets.”

Thales has been based at Teesside since 1996, originally under the name Flight Precision Ltd.

Although it relocated to Bournemouth briefly between 2014 and 2016 under previous ownership, the team were asked where they wanted to go when Thales acquired the business.

Mr Hogan said: “We said Teesside, of course, so we came back, it’s the perfect location that is central to our UK operation that ranges from Northern Scotland to South-West England.”

The new five-year deal includes improvements to their hangar, which provides around 7,500 square feet of space for aircraft and offices.

Victoria Ashby, head of property and development at Teesside Airport, said: “Thales has been an incredibly loyal and a long-standing partner to 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.”