MRO Projects
MRO, or "Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul" is a major part of aviation that Teesside has not had excesses of despite being an attractive location for such activity. This market segment covers everything from major "A, B, C and D" checks down to the simpler things such as interior changes and resprays. The industry has been in decline in recent years due to new generation aircraft requiring less work at increasingly infrequent intervals, as such many operators have diversified into end of life services and other niches that we have enjoyed recently first with Sycamore Aviation and now Willis. For enthusiasts, such operators can often be the "Goose that lays the golden egg" as they have the potential to tick both boxes we look for - variety and volume.
| Aerochecks 1970s |
Sprayavia
International 1990 - 1998 |
Sycamore Aviation 2011 - 2017 |
Willis
Asset Management 2020 - present |
Airbourne Colours 2024 - present |
Other / Miscellaneous |
Line Maintenance
Line maintenance is minor work and routine inspections carried out not so much by specialist operators like the above but more so airline and air operator in-house engineers whilst the aircraft remains in an operational environment. To ensure completeness we have tried to list all resident operators who have had a line maintenance base at Teesside over the years. The list won't be by any means complete so please feel free to add to it!
| Beacon Air Services | c. 1972 - 1982 | Possible subsidiary of flying school Beacon Flying Club? |
| bmi Engineering (previously British Midland Engineering) | 1960s - 2000s | Covered bmibaby as well |
| Bristow Helicopters | 1970s - 1980s | Reported line maintenance |
| British International Helicopter Services | c. 1990 | Reported line maintenance |
| Casair Aviation Services / Genair | 1970s - 1980s | Airframes worked on in Hangar 3 West, including third party fleets |
| Cleveland Airwork Ltd | c. 1976/7 | Confirmation needed |
| Cobham Aviation Services (previously FR Aviation) | 1995 - present | Always performed line maintenance here, expanding to full MRO in 2020 |
| Cobham Flight Inspection (previously Flight Precision) | 1996 - 2010s | Definitely line maintenance, if not full MRO as well? |
| Dan-Air Engineering | c. 1970s - 1990s | Assumed, confirmation needed |
| Eastern Airways | 2000s - present | Long term line mx base, recently expanded for the new aircraft base |
| KLM UK Engineering | 2000s - 2010s | Believed to have closed MME base towards the end of the twenty-tens |
| MyTravel Airways (previously Airtours International Airways) | 1995 - c. 2003 | Resident Airtours airframe often in H1 - not sure if MyTravel kept it? |
| TNT Airways | 1998 - 2008 | Fleet would often position in for work, possible third party work too |