Bombardier Aerospace plans to open a new regional-support office (RSO) in Mumbai, India, during this fiscal year’s second quarter, the Canadian manufacturer announced today. Bombardier’s second fiscal quarter runs from May 1 to July 31.

Meant to align the company’s existing commercial and business aircraft support services based in New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, the new RSO will occupy commercial space in the Mumbai suburb of Andheri East, near the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Plans call for the new office to employ a staff of as many as 12 people, including account managers, field-service representatives and regional managers, by the end of the year.

“The Asia-Pacific region is a key market for Bombardier, and we recognize how important this RSO is for both our business and commercial aircraft customers in the region,” said James Hoblyn, Bombardier Aerospace president of customer services and specialized/amphibious aircraft. “Strengthening our presence in India is among a number of recent changes we have introduced to improve overall response times and build stronger relationships with our customers around the world.”

Since embarking on a strategy to expand its customer support in 2007, Bombardier has opened new RSOs for commercial aircraft in Tokyo, Sydney, Shanghai and Munich, and has added service representatives in those regions. Meanwhile, the company’s business aircraft division inaugurated its first line-maintenance facility for its Challenger and Global business jet customers in India through Air Works.