Irelands Mallaghan Engineering company is set to create 60 jobs in Dungannon County Tyrone after securing a multi-million-pound contract to build a fleet of airport buses.
Ryanair has initially ordered a fleet of 32 Mallaghan 50W airport buses, to be delivered in the next 12 months.
Ronan Mallaghan, managing director at Mallaghan Engineering, 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.
“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.
“We are currently recruiting for a range of roles, including skilled mechanics, coach-builders, fitters, welders, joiners, spray painters and vehicle upholsters.”
Mallaghan said the bus is the largest of its type in the world, carrying up to 125 passengers.
The company manufactures airport ground support equipment and employs more than 450 staff at its manufacturing sites in Dungannon and six other sites around the world.
Ryanair has used Mallaghan ground support equipment at bases across Europe for the last two decades.
“As we expand the Ryanair Group operations, we expect this to be the first of many orders and look forward to working with Mallaghan.” Adrian Dunne, the airline’s director of operations, said.
