Mayor's Message

We’ve seen a lot of activity over at Airbourne Colours at Teesside Airport this month, with the firm taking on a couple of globally important special livery jobs. The plane hosting the Fifa World Cup Trophy Tour by CocaCola visited the company to be painted as it covers 75 different locations head of the tournament – putting millions of eyes on the skills and workmanship of a Teesside firm. This is the second job of its kind in just a couple of weeks, after the Airbourne team painted an Airbus A320-200 for Brussels Airlines, featuring the country’s iconic comic character Tintin.

With its recent expansion, its commitment to employing trainees, and now these incredible jobs, Airbourne’s becoming a major asset to our airport and a real success story.

More widely across our region, new figures have shown how we’re nurturing talent of all types – being one of the strongest performers in offering apprenticeships. During 2023/24, a massive 11% of our students went on to apprentices – compared with 6.9% nationally. It’s something I’m very proud to support, and our young people should know that university isn’t the only route into a brilliant career, especially here in Teesside. They can work with exceptional local firms, earn while they learn and stay local but go far.

In other transport-related news, we’ve worked with Arriva to secure an extension to the No 10 bus from Whinfield, in Darlington, through to Sadberge and surrounding villages from April, after Tees Flex ends. And Stagecoach is launching two new services  – X86 connecting Redmarshall to Stockton High Street, and 51 linking Dalton Piercy and Elwick to Hartlepool Town Centre. This will ensure local people can get to jobs, education, training and the new opportunities we’re creating across our region.

In our efforts to make the region a hotbed of creative talent, two more musicians have secured backing from the PPL Momentum Music Fund. Both Darlington’s Robyn Errico and Teesside’s Smith & Liddle. This funding helps shine a light on our fantastic musical talent, help them record, tour and promote their work and show the how we’re making world-class music right here.

Elsewhere, the search is on for new members for our new Business Board after Matt Ord was appointed Chair. We’re looking for local business voices with real influence to strengthen investment, growth and skills across our region. You can apply by clicking here – the deadline for applications is 11.59pm on Wednesday 25 March.