Humberside Airport New Training Academy

Houlton were extremely pleased to be appointed main contractor by North Lincolnshire Council to deliver a full functioning turn-key facility, comprising a fully fitted out and completed aircraft hangar building for use as an Aviation Training Academy at Humberside International Airport. Work also included building an apron, taxi way, car parking and diversion of an adjacent access roadway. The hanger is 70m x 61m x 14m high and consists of a central hanger space to house aircraft surrounded on three sides by two storey classrooms, workshops, library, stores, restrooms and toilets.

This new £5m BAE Systems National training academy provides up to 60 apprentice opportunities every year resulting in over 150 new jobs over three years.

The Training Academy is used for a range of Engineering and associated training activities related to the maintenance and operation of aircraft based on an operational Hangar. This exciting development is a joint venture between British multinational defence organisation BAE Systems, Humberside Airport, Resource Group’s Aviation Technical Training Division and North Lincolnshire Council.

The National Academy, supported through the Regional Growth Fund, will become the UK’s central hub for BAE Systems to train apprentices for the maintenance and servicing of UK fighter jets and to support International Export contracts. Apprentices will be offered the chance of a lifetime to work on BAE systems Hawk fighter jets, the 'flying classroom' that trains pilots of the future, and Dominie aircraft to prepare them for a career with BAE Systems, working alongside the Royal Air Force. Once trained, the students will support the fast jet fleets at RAF Conningsby, RAF Valley and RAF Marham.

The Training Academy will be named the ‘R J Mitchell Aircraft Maintenance Academy’, after Reginald Mitchell, who started his successful career as an apprentice in Nottingham. He went on to become a British aeronautical engineer, designing around 24 aircraft, including the famous World War 2 fighter – Supermarine Spitfire, arguably the predecessor of today’s fast jets.