To create extraordinary aircraft seating products, designed with care, built with precision, and delivered with passion. Our people are the driving force behind every innovation to continually exceed customer expectations.
People are at the heart of everything we do. Thompson Aero Seating, or TAS, as we are more often affectionately known, is a people company. We put heart and soul into every seat we create and believe that this is part of what sets us above the others when it comes to premium aircraft seating. We pride ourselves on being a company with warmth and attitude. We are friendly, passionate and responsive, whilst also inspired, innovative and driven. Our brand has our people at its heart, featuring the real faces and heartbeat of TAS, aligning these with the natural beauty and cultural heritage of our home, Northern Ireland.
We were founded by James Thompson twenty years ago when the first Vantage fully flat-bed seat was conceived, to bring greater comfort and space-efficiency to business-class seating solutions.
Today, TAS offers a wide range of innovative, beautiful, comfortable, highly efficient, and reliable premium seating products. We are very proud of our iconic Vantage family of seating. This constantly expanding and evolving seating range includes products for twin- and single-aisle aircraft, which are available from turnkey, through customised, to utterly bespoke. We use intelligent design to maximise passengers’ comfort, privacy and personal space, optimising every inch of the cabin.
We work together as one team, leveraging and celebrating our diverse perspectives, talents, individuality and cultures. Our people are our brand, our strength, and our heart.
We are accountable, inclusive and responsible, maintaining the highest ethical standards in all that we do. We work with integrity, and this is reflected in our products.
We strive to deliver the best, with on-time and on-budget delivery, exceeding our customers’ expectations and embracing continuous improvement.
We put our customers at the heart of everything we do, offering the most agile, flexible and innovative solutions, with the highest levels of safety, value and quality.
We are a company with warmth and attitude. We work with spirit, passion and pride, uniting as a team ourselves and with our customers.
Innovation is the foundation of all that we do, creating a platform of sustained growth for the company, customer and the environment.
Immersed in the aircraft industry for 35 years. From project management to program operation, from trade business to industrial production, from business function to overall business management, it’s mostly enjoyable and there is still so much more to be explored. “Our job is a process of whole-hearted engagement until in the end you are part of the process itself.”
Haiyuan Fang
Managing Director of the Board
Keith is a collaborative executive leader with a wealth of manufacturing experience gained across multiple industries. His track record is one of consistently transforming organisations and teams to deliver outstanding results.
Keith joins Thompson from IQE plc where he was Chief Operating Officer. He previously enjoyed six successful years at Collins Aerospace in Kilkeel, where he was Business Unit Director for Collins business-class seats, leading the company to a three-fold increase in revenue with strong profitability. Keith was instrumental in the successful on-time delivery of multiple major seating programmes and left an outstanding team as a legacy when he moved on.
Keith has been married to Caroline for 21 years. They have three children: Ben, Emily and Grace. Keith enjoys watching all sports, particularly rugby, and loves his Saturday mornings watching his children representing their school sports teams.
Keith Anderson
Chief Executive Officer
Peter Bell joined Thompson in January 2017. He is responsible for all aspects of financial reporting, compliance, planning and analysis, as well as the company’s information technology functions. Peter trained as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Belfast, including secondments to London, New York, California and Melbourne. After eight years in practice and prior to joining Thompson, he worked in senior financial roles at Magellan Aerospace and Terex Corporation, both based in Northern Ireland. Peter holds a BSc from Queen’s University, Belfast and a MSc from Ulster University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
Peter Bell
Chief Financial Officer
Andy Morris is Chief Commercial Officer within Thompson. This broad, global role encompasses overall responsibility for Thompson’s future sales, marketing and contractual activities, as well as the future product roadmap. Andy’s team is truly global with locations in the UK and Northern Ireland, USA, Hong Kong, China and New Zealand. Andy’s extensive experience in aviation and the wider travel sector spans many years. Joining Thompson in 2013, Andy previously had spent six years as Fleet & Cabin Development Manager with the UK-based airline bmi British Midland. One of Andy’s career highlights was leading the programme to install full lie-flat beds on bmi’s single-aisle fleet, the world’s first commercial airline to achieve this landmark, which has since been followed by many other airlines around the world.
Andy Morris
Chief Commercial Officer
Jonny entered into engineering through a post-graduate Higher National Diploma in electrical engineering. He then progressed to obtain an honours degree in electronic & electrical at Queen's University, Belfast. Having worked in various engineering roles in related aerospace businesses he moved to Thompson Aero Seating in 2011 as an electrical project manager. Having introduced a number of new technical systems to the product range he moved to project management for various initial customers along with the introduction and accreditation of the business to OEM offerability. In 2013 Jonny took responsibility for the design team as Engineering Design manager to manage the introduction of the new VantageXL range of seating, later becoming the head of design. Jonny is driven by listening to customers and providing technical solutions which allow Thompson Aero Seating to continually redefine the cabin interior by linking technical advancements with product evolution to deliver first-to-market, innovative products to our customers.
Jonny McGreevy
Chief Technical Officer
Eva McElroy joined Thompson Aero Seating in 2019 as a HR Business Partner and was promoted into the role of Head of HR&D in May 2023. She is responsible for leading, developing and implementing a best in class strategy to optimise and harness the contribution and performance of all employees across the full employee lifecycle. Prior to joining Thompson, Eva held HR Manager roles across some of NI’s leading and largest FMCG organisations. She holds a BA (Hons) degree in HRM from the University of Liverpool, holds an Advanced Diploma in HRM and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.
Eva McElroy
Head of HR&D
Ross Kane
VP Programmes
Emma Stewart is the Head of Quality at Thompson Aero Seating, joining the company in May 2022. Emma and the wider quality team are responsible for managing the quality approvals that we hold within the factory, supporting the approval and management of the suppliers to our business, and delivering top quality product to our customers. Emma studied at our local NI universities completing her BA at QUB, followed by a Masters at UUJ, in more recent years completing an MBA at Bradford School of Business. Emma has worked within the aerospace industry for more than 20 years and has held senior quality roles across a number of organisations including Survitecgroup, Magellan Aerospace and B/E Aerospace. With more than 20 years working within the aerospace sector Emma has been involved in many change and improvement activities over the years with a wealth of experience gained across a range of areas. These include multiple regulatory approvals such as AS9100, 21G, 145, AS9100, 14001, product transfer activity, continuous improvement and problem-solving tools, and new product introduction.
Emma Stewart
VP Quality & HSE
Edwin has been with Thompson Aero Seating since 2019, initially as the Head of onsite support for Thompson seat installation activities at Airbus, Boeing and across the various MRO’s around the world. Upon the onset of Covid in 2020, Edwin assumed the aftermarket portfolio with P&L responsibility where he and his team helped customers navigate the challenging aviation market with support on all Thompson matters. Post pandemic, Edwin is spearheading all Thompson customers’ activity as they return to the skies, with various cabin reconfigurations, cabin refresh, re-housing of aircraft etc. He and his team are currently setting up a service-based organisation where customers are able to look to Thompson for support in their end-to-end cabin maintenance apart from just spares. Edwin is no stranger to the aviation industry as he was with Malaysia Airlines for 27 years in various roles starting as an apprentice, engineer and working his way to head of aircraft projects, overseeing the aircraft procurement business within Malaysia Airlines. His final role in Malaysia was head of maintenance operations – Malaysia Airlines, before joining Thompson in 2019.
Edwin Ratnam
VP Aftersales and Services
Chris Agnew is the Head of Operations, joining Thompson Aero Seating in 2017 as part of the creation of the Manufacturing Engineering function. During his time in TAS, Chris has been promoted through the business, holding the roles of Lead Manufacturing Engineer, Production Engineering Manager, and prior to his current role, the Head of Manufacturing Engineering. As the Head of Operations, Chris is responsible for the execution of the Operational departments, both Assembly and Manufacturing, ensuring the customer requirements are met on-time and on-quality whilst driving a continuous improvement philosophy with the Operations function. As well as the Manufacturing and Assembly operations, Chris’ team includes Logistics, Manufacturing Engineering, Operational Planning and Stores. Before joining TAS, Chris worked for 15 years within Aerostructures, focussing on NPI, composite manufacture, and Tier 1 supplier management projects – travelling to supplier sites across the world, offering technical support and helping improve manufacturing strategies.
Christopher Agnew
Head of Manufacturing
Coming Soon
Stephen Acheson
Head of Planning
Sinéad Taggart joined Thompson Aero Seating in 2024 as Vice President, Supply Chain, bringing extensive experience from the heavy engineering sector, as well as the electronics and pharmaceutical industries. Having worked internationally in Bordeaux, Amsterdam, and Singapore, Sinéad speaks French and has led diverse teams across Europe, the USA, and Asia in Purchasing, Category Management, Stores, Planning, NPI, and VA/VE Cost Reduction. She is passionate about coaching high-performance teams and driving continuous improvement in Supplier Performance. Sinéad holds a BA (Hons) in European Business with French from UUC and IUT Bordeaux. She is a member of the Institute of Management and holds professional accreditations in Supply Chain, Production and Inventory Management.
Sinéad Taggart
VP, Supply Chain
Andrew brings over 20 years of experience across a range of operational environments. For the past 12 years, he has worked in the heavy engineering sector with CDE Group, where he held senior roles spanning planning, supply chain, and operations. Andrew’s breadth of expertise and hands-on leadership style play a key role in driving operational excellence across the business.
Andrew Dunbar
Head of Operations
This approach facilitates a fluid and continuing design process with reduced lead times, constantly pushing the boundaries and driving many ‘first-to-market’ features.
The Vantage range of products continues to grow and evolve with different densities and features, but all underpinned by innovative solutions and our focus on space creation.
The Vantage seating range from Thompson comprises:
| CAA 21G Approval | UK.21G.2638 |
| CAA P145 Approval | UK.145.01290 |
| FAA 145 Approval | 6TOY336C |
| EASA 145 Approval | EASA.145.3197 |
| AS 9100 Rev D Certification | FM 540498 |
| APDOA Approval | UK.AP0305 |
| ISO 14001 Certification | GB21/969262 |
The Thompson seating range is available across all Airbus (A320F, A330, A350 and A380) and Boeing (B737, B757, B767, B777 and B787) platforms.