Thales keen to build stronger presence in Bahrain

This is a separate tender from the contract awarded to L-3 at the Bahrain Air Show for the design, manufacture and installation of new security screening equipment for the terminal.

Bernard Roux, Thales country director (pictured), said if its bid was successful a facility in the Kingdom would be key to supporting its activities.

“We are currently waiting for the next step of the tendering process,” Roux said. “And are having discussions with Bahrain's Transportation Ministry.

“If successful with the tender we will fully commit to developing a permanent office in Bahrain and also hiring Bahrainis locally.”

Thales is a leader in airport security with a range of innovative technologies including iris scanning and facial recognition.

An announcement that Gulf Air is to order 29 A320neo-family single-aisle aircraft was also good news for Thales.

“We are bidding for the in-flight entertainment (IFE) aboard the aircraft,” Roux said.

This could be a good contract win in the region for Thales, who signed a similar deal in 2015 for its Avant in-flight entertainment system aboard Kuwait Airways A330s.