Airbus making PH int’l training hub

MANILA, Philippines–Philippine aviation just got a huge boost.

The world’s biggest aircraft manufacturer, Airbus SAS, will soon set up an international training hub in Manila, which should boost the local aviation sector and raise the bar of pilot training in the country, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said on Tuesday.

Airbus SAS picked Manila to be its sixth training center—after Toulouse in France, Miami in the United States, Hamburg in Germany, Beijing in China and Bangalore in India—to serve its Southeast Asian markets.

In a statement, CAAP Director General Lt. Gen. William K. Hotchkiss III said he endorsed Airbus SAS’ request for support in establishing the training center to the Board of Investments under the Department of Trade and Industry.

He said Airbus’ representative, Thierry Martin, called on him recently to seek CAAP support for the project.

The aircraft manufacturing division of the Airbus Group is based in Blagnac, a suburb of Toulouse.

According to the CAAP, the center in Manila will be the first to be equipped with full flight simulators of the wide-bodied A330 and A340 aircraft, a suite of devices, on top of two A320 simulators.

“The training center is a major initiative supporting the CAAP’s current efforts to support the type-rating (pilot) training of the growing aviation industry,” Hotchkiss said.

The center will be an Airbus Approved Training Organization (ATO) with the latest training standards in the world, he said.

Hotchkiss said the Philippines will soon be known internationally as the site of Airbus training of aviation personnel serving the ever-growing Airbus fleet in the Southeast Asian region.

According to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa), an international aviation information consultancy, about 9,160 of the total global airplane orders are destined for the Asia Pacific region. From now until 2030, the world would need 192,300 pilots and 215,300 technicians more, it said.