The new Airbus Asia Training Centre (AATC), a joint venture owned 55% by Airbus and 45% by Singapore Airlines (SIA), was officially opened in Singapore today. The opening ceremony was hosted by Fabrice Bregier, President and Chief Executive Officer, Airbus and Goh Choon Phong, Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Airlines, in the presence of S Iswaran, Minister of Trade and Industry (Industry) for the Republic of Singapore.

The 9,250 square metre facility in Singapore becomes the fourth Airbus flight crew training centre worldwide, alongside Toulouse, Miami and Beijing. The new centre offers type rating and recurrent training courses for all in-production Airbus types and when fully operational will be Airbus' largest flight crew training facility, with eight full-flight simulators, comprising three A350 XWBs, one A380, two A330s and two A320s. The centre will also have six fixed cockpit training devices and extensive classroom facilities, with the capacity to offer courses for more than 10,000 trainees per year.

"We are extremely pleased to inaugurate, in partnership with Singapore Airlines, the latest addition to our global training network," said Fabrice Brégier, Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer. "The new centre combines the expertise of our two companies to offer the highest standards of training for the growing flight crew population in the Asia-Pacific region. Our investment in this joint venture is another example of our commitment at Airbus to bring our support services closer to our customers around the world, and especially in the key growth markets."

Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong added: "The new facility provides exceptional training on state-of-the-art equipment, ensuring that AATC is a true centre of excellence in the Asia-Pacific region. With hundreds more new Airbus aircraft on firm order by the region's airlines, we are confident that AATC will go from strength to strength."

AATC began operations in April 2015 and prior to the opening of the new centre has been offering courses out of temporary facilities at the SIA Training Centre near Changi Airport. All operations are gradually being transferred to the new centre, located at Seletar Aerospace Park. Instructors have initially been drawn from Airbus and Singapore Airlines, with additional recruitment ongoing.

Seventeen airlines from Asia and the Pacific have already signed up to use the services of AATC, where the courses offered are identical to those at the existing Airbus flight crew training centres.

Airbus predicts that the Asia-Pacific region will lead demand for new aircraft in the coming years, with the in-service fleet growing from around 5,600 aircraft today to 14,000 over the next two decades. This will see the active flight crew population employed by airlines in the region increase from over 65,000 to almost 170,000, generating significant demand for flight crew training services.

In addition to its flight crew training centres in Toulouse, Miami, Beijing and Singapore, Airbus currently has engineering and maintenance training centres in Hamburg and Bangalore. Airbus also has agreements with third party service providers to offer Airbus training courses at their facilities.

Contributed by Airbus S.A.S.