A company in the region has completed a contract with airline Virgin Atlantic to help people overcome their fear of flying.

Media company Yuzu, based in Middlesbrough, has designed and developed the airline's Flying without Fear website in line with the Disability Discrimination Act guidelines.

The website, at www.flying withoutfear.info, helps people overcome their fears by providing courses designed to teach people everything to do with flying - including how an aircraft works and all the noises and events passengers can expect during a flight. The courses finish with a 45-minute flight.

Yuzu managing director John Corner said: "We believe this contract will be a catalyst for us to win even more of this kind of prestigious work.

"By winning this contract, we believe we are proving that companies in the North really can compete on a level playing field with our counterparts in London's Soho.

"The Tees Valley no longer has the reputation for chemicals and engineering - it now has a thriving digital technology sector which has spawned a series of recent start-ups."

Yuzu is a member of Codeworks Connect, the trade association for the North-East's digital industries. Codeworks Chief executive officer Herb Kim said: "North-East companies like Yuzu are showing that they can compete on a national level and win contracts from large corporate organisations. The benefits of a lower cost-base without compromise on quality or creativity give the region's companies a great advantage when pitching for this type of work."