Thailand is a beautiful country and means many different things to many different people.
But for people that fly, Thailand has now become an important aviation hub. Thanks to their government for realizing this was a move that had to be made.
Currently, the aerospace industry contributes about $25,5 billion or 9% of the Thai GDP to the nation's economy.
Back in 2003, Thailand didn't have one aircraft maintenance center.
Times have sure changed.
The Thai government put an emphasis on ramping up the air cargo and aerospace industry at home.
No longer do airplanes have to leave Thailand to be serviced. In fact, Thailand has become a center for aircraft maintenance and a place where airplane parts are manufactured. Almost 400,000 jobs have been created in this industry over the last 10 years and the airplane parts market keeps growing.
Companies taking part in the resurgence include General Electric, Rolls-Royce Co., Michelin, Senior Plc, Triumph Group, Aeroworks, Eurocopter, Driessen and Minebea. A note on this, is more companies may be on the way.
Being centrally located, Thailand annually handles large cargo loads and an increasing amount of passenger traffic.
A telling stat from the Thailand Board of Investment:
Thailand has seen a great increase in passenger traffic; in 2012 alone, 44.3 million international passengers traveled through Thailand's airports, with 2013 travel up 20 percent.
Pardon the pun, but the aviation industry in Thailand has taken flight.
It's great to see a country like Thailand becoming an aerospace leader in the world market.
