Asia-Pacific “is where it’s at” for Airbus ab initio training in 2022

April 1st 2022

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Asia is a huge part of Airbus’s plans for expanding its training facilities. Read More » In February, Manning was in Singapore for the launch of a fourth A350 Full Flight Simulator (FFS) at the Airbus Asia Training Centre (AATC), a joint venture owned 55% by Airbus and 45% by Singapore Airlines. Operational from April 2016, the centre also has two A320s, one A380, and two A330 FFS.

Airbus has 18 training centres around the world and Singapore, not Toulouse, is the largest and the only one equipped with four A350 simulators. The 10,000 sq. metre centre at Seletar Aerospace Parker, being “nearer to the home bases of airlines in the region has been extremely well received”, Manning said at the Singapore A350 FFS ceremony.

“In terms of infrastructure, it is a great place, Singapore and the Asia-Pacific. So we have grown there. Why? Because the Asia-Pacific is a hub for it. We have A380s, A350s, A330s, A320s. We are hosting ATR there with a 72-600 FFS. We can train up to 10,000 pilots a year there. There are start-up costs. It takes time, money and energy to build a training centre so we don’t build them everywhere. But we have Korea. We have Vietnam. We have Beijing and we are thinking we may do more. We also have India where we have a training centre,” she said.

“And yes, we are constantly looking at expanding Singapore because customers like to go there. Unfortunately, Singapore has been very strict during the pandemic so we suffered a lot. People simply could not get a visa to live in Singapore for the six weeks to 18 months it takes to train there. But “the Asia-Pacific is where it’s at for Airbus”.”