Northern Ireland is home to one-third of the world’s aircraft seat manufacturing facilities. Thompson Aero Seating, headquartered in Banbridge, specialises in producing first class and business class seats with built-in entertainment systems and individual enclosures. Tests are carried out day and night, with robots opening and closing airplane meal tables as quality control measures. The message is clear: Durable, comfortable and safe seats are non-negotiable for passengers’ comfort and satisfaction.
Thompson is among a few businesses in Northern Ireland that focus specifically on this trade and can also boast of an in-house testing facility, a new £7.5m project, which uses crash test dummies and a short track to ensure seats and passengers are able to withstand difficult conditions such as hitting a sudden impact at high speed or vibrations.
But, as with many other sectors, the COVID-19 pandemic led to demand for aircraft seats plummeting across the board. To maintain staffing levels and meet demand, seat makers are finding it tough to attract new talent and inject industry expertise. As a result of the pandemic and subsequent downturns in this sector, seat positions have become hotter than ever – the industry has lost vital expertise, which would have assisted younger people in the auto industry to gain hands-on manufacturing experience.
Despite these challenges, Thompson Aero Seating has revealed that it has a plan in place to ramp up production of seats over the next five years. Through its financially resilient status and large number of employees, the company is confident that tweaks to its working patterns and robust line management will help deliver productivity gains while enhancing quality control. Thompson Aero Seating is providing a crucial service to airlines that are striving to offer passengers high-quality and unique experiences
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