60 jobs will be created in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone as Mallaghan Engineering has announced a multi-million-pound contract to build a fleet of airport buses for Ryanair.
It follows the launch of the “Mallaghan 50W” which the firm claims is the largest capacity airport bus in the world, carrying up to 125 passengers.
Ryanair has initially ordered a 32-strong fleet, which will be delivered in the next year.
The keys to the first vehicle were handed over recently at the Inter Airport Europe trade show in Munich, Germany.
Mallaghan Engineering manufactures airport ground support equipment, employing over 450 staff at its sites in Dungannon, Georgia and five other global offices.
Ronan Mallaghan, Managing Director at the company said: “Traditionally our product portfolio has focused on passenger stairs and a range of high lift trucks for catering, cabin cleaning and more specialist ground support equipment including water trucks, toilet trucks and de-icers.
“But with increasing passenger numbers in the global market and to meet customer demands, we’ve developed and begun manufacturing the “Mallaghan 50W” airport bus which will broaden our range and heralds a new dawn for the Mallaghan team.
“We are currently recruiting for a range of roles including skilled mechanics, coach-builders, fitters, welders, joiners, spray painters and vehicle upholsters.”
Used for transporting passengers to and from terminals and aircrafts, the “Mallaghan 50W” will offer a range of features that can be tailored to the customer’s specifications. The engineering firm states it is also the only airport bus in the world with rear wheel steering, hence reducing the turning circle.
This new bus was researched and designed by the company’s Dungannon team, and was a result of significant investment announced last year.
Ronan added that the business expects to announce further investment in the weeks ahead, “not only in research and development, but our facilities and our people, enabling us to expand our innovative product range and to significantly boost export sales.”
Ryanair is a longstanding customer of Mallaghan and has utilised its ground support equipment at bases across Europe for the last two decades.
Adrian Dunne, Ryanair Director of Operations, said that the airline is delighted to be the launch customer for the new Mallaghan bus, who they have “worked closely with in the design, specification and delivery of.”
