Airbus is to open a new subsidiary in Thailand that will produce flight operations data for use by its airline customers worldwide. Airbus Flight Operations Services is set to begin operations early in 2015 and initially will employ 30 people, most of whom will be recruited locally. The new facility in Bangkok will produce electronic versions of the standard Airbus flight operations manuals that can be applied for electronic flight bag use. It will also help individual airlines to customize their operational databases.

The move is part of a wider Airbus campaign to establish more operations around the world in an effort to both reduce costs and have a stronger connection with key growth markets, such as the Asia-Pacific region. “As a global company, Airbus seeks to draw on skilled talent from around the world, especially in the services sector,” said Airbus Flight Operations managing director Benoît de Montety. “As a key market for Airbus, Southeast Asia offers many opportunities for us to develop our presence, with professional and highly motivated workforces keen to develop their footprint in the aviation sector.”

Other recent Airbus expansion moves in Southeast Asia have included the establishment of a new customer service engineering center and an expanded maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Malaysia, the launch of a new flight-training joint venture with Singapore Airlines and a flight-training service agreement with Angkasa Aviation Academy in Indonesia.