August 15, 2017 marks a new beginning between Thailand and France in aviation training. The President of Civil Aviation Training Center of Thailand (CATC), R. Admiral Piya Atmungkun, and the President of Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile (ENAC), Mr. Marc Houalla, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to forge a strategic aviation training partnership in Thailand.
ENAC and CATC agree to co-operate on the development of academic joint Master and Advanced Master degrees with each party contributing on the basis of its respective field of expertise for research collaboration, student and faculty exchanges etc. In particular, the parties wish to focus on the aviation industry in the areas of standards and policies, best practices and training opportunities in the region.

Thailand

Thailand houses ICAO’s Regional Head Office in Asia. The country has been the leading force in ASEAN region in terms of aviation standards. In recent months, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has been actively engaged with Airbus and ENAC on aviation training. Much of the training needs is driven by the projected air traffic growth in the region, along with a new airport being built in U-Tapao, an outskirt of Bangkok. Based on industry forecast, total air passengers in Thailand will double over the next 10 years, and triple in 20 years.

ASEAN zone

This MoU confirms the development of ENAC (Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation civile) in the ASEAN zone in which ENAC has already signed training agreements with the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation as well as the Civil Aviation Authorities of Vietnam and Philippines for the delivery of Aviation Safety Management Masters in each of those ASEAN countries. ENAC anticipates further collaboration with key aviation stakeholders in Thailand over the coming years.