Bosses at a North East airport have announced expansion plans for new hangar space to be built

Officials at Teesside International Airport have revealed plans for two new 67,000 sq ft hangars on the north side of the airport, with procurement for construction now open for local businesses to apply to.

It is hoped that additional hangar space will enable the airport to attract further investment in a push to return to profit.

The Northern Echo:

In recent years, the airport has seen an expansion by defence contractor Draken and a £25m investment from Willis Aviation to create a new aircraft engineering base, with over 200 jobs set to be created.

Oil spill response firm 2Excel also now operate from Teesside Airport following the closure of Doncaster Sheffield Airport late last year.

The announcement follows the appointment of Stockton-based firm GMI to build the first 25,000 sq ft unit of the £200m airport Southside Business Park, with work to begin in days.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen is now calling on firms across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool to play their part in expansion of the airport.

He said: “I’m a massive champion of our brilliant local businesses, which is why I’ve put them at the centre of all the work we’ve done at our airport so far.

"Now that our airport is growing, I’d urge local firms to get stuck in and to help us transform it even further.

“New hangar space at Teesside Airport is critical to landing new investment that’ll bring our airport back to profit and create good-quality jobs for local people.

The Northern Echo:

"We’ve got the cash from Government to get this done, so now it’s time to turn that into new opportunity for our great businesses.”

Earlier this year, a project to build a new aircraft maintenance site, which includes five hangars for repair, was given the green light by councillors at a Darlington Council planning meeting.

The applicant, Willis Aviation, will invest £25 million into the project and hopes to create between 250 to 300 jobs in the region.

Plans show the new facility will be built on land to the west of the main terminal building, which was originally earmarked for 350 homes before it was bought as part of a deal to bring the airport back into public ownership in 2019.

Earlier this year, the airport became the UK’s first to entirely do away with the 100ml limit on liquids when passing through airport security.

The previous 100ml threshold on liquid containers has been upped to 2 litres for hand luggage at Teesside, thanks to two cutting-edge C3 scanners fully operational in security.

These high-tech scanners also remove the requirement for creams and cosmetics to be placed in separate bags, or for laptops and other electronic items to also be taken out ahead of scanning.