Bullish on the growth opportunities in the Indian civil aviation space, Europe's leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus on Thursday said it planned to invest about $1 billion in the next 10 years.

"Considering the growth that the civil aviation sector is poised to witness in India and the requirements to meet the demands we are committing about $1 billion here for the next 10 years," Airbus executive vice-president marketing and contracts consumer affairs Kiran Rao told reporters in New Delhi.

The areas where the Toulouse-based aircraft maker is looking to invest in India include setting up of training centres; maintenance, repair and overhauling (MRO) facility; engineering centre and design centre.

"We plan to have a training centre for A-320 Airbus by 2007 starting with about four simulators, which can be then expanded up to eight simulators over the next five years at an investment of about $300 million," Rao said.

The training centre would cater to the requirements of the Asia region for Airbus, he added.

On the MRO facility, Rao said the company was in talks with various partners, including two Indian forms.

"The facility is planned for the Asia region and we hope to finalise it soon," he said without divulging details.

Rao said the company also planned to set up an engineering centre at Bangalore, which would be operational by next year.