The launch of its newest business-class seat, the VantageNOVA, is set to see Thompson Aero Seating significantly increase its engineering function in Banbridge and Portadown, the company says.
And it comes as the Chinese-owned market leader in premium aircraft seating revealed a massive uplift in sales in 2023, driven largely by volume, as it also significantly cut its losses.
Revenues last year soared from £86 million to more than £115 million, and Thompson went from a £37m loss in 2022 to just £8m this time.
Just a fraction of Thompson’s revenues are derived from the UK (£4.7m), with its biggest markets being the US and Canada (£40.2m), Europe (£30.8m) and Asia and Pacific (£16.7m), where its customers include the likes of Delta, China Eastern and Singapore Airlines.
The accounts also show that Thompson, which was founded 20 years ago with the introduction of its first Vantage fully-flat bed seat, now has an order book of £509m - up £110m on the previous year’s figure of £399m.
Now Thompson has launched the newest star of the Vantage seating family – the VantageNOVA, a business class seat designed specifically for large, twin-aisle aircraft like the A350.
The VantageNOVA is an angled seat, designed to achieve impressive space and privacy for passengers, and in a competitive market, it is already in great demand among airlines, which will see Thompson now increasing its engineering function.
So far in 2024, it has already upped its engineering capability by 33%, recruiting engineers who are not all specifically from an aerospace background.
And to meet continued growth and popularity for its products, it plans to further increase capability into 2025 by another 30%, along with a range of site and infrastructure development plans, which match the world-class testing environment.
Thompson, which currently has 645 people on its payroll, says it finds it valuable to engage engineers with alternative experience, such as automotive, agricultural and marine, as they bring with them different expertise that helps the company to evolve and improve.
Jonny McGreevy, vice president of engineering at the company, said: “Our range of premium aircraft seating is phenomenally successful, and now our newest seat, the VantageNOVA, is in huge demand.
“We have a wealth of own-grown talent and engineering expertise specifically relating to aviation but we still need greater capacity.
“This could include engineers from various backgrounds such as mechanical, electrical, product development, engineering management, mechatronics, aeronautical, agricultural or automotive, to carry out a range of end-to-end tasks from product development; bid management and concept creation to 3D part-creation and designing; digital mock-up management; and airworthiness reporting.
“Thompson is looking to fulfil these roles with a blend of engineering capabilities via a range of talents from graduate engineers through to experienced engineers and airworthiness specialists.”
Last year Thompson opened the doors to its new engineering centre in Banbridge, which included the launch of a dynamic test facility which give its engineers the capability to perform full-scale crash testing on-site, which connects airworthiness compliance full circle back to research and development.
Laura McCarthy, engineering HR manager at Thompson Aero Seating, says: “The strength of the team at Thompson is partly in its diverse nature. We have engineers of all ages and levels of experience, from all sector backgrounds. This gives us a full perspective of innovation and expertise that enables us to remain agile and right at the cutting edge of engineering achievement.”