Bangkok Airways is re-entering the huge China market that it left seven years ago when several airlines had to pare their networks due to the global financial crisis. But the SET-listed full-service airline will return to different Chinese cities from a different airport as it attempts to develop new routes. International Business Machines Corp. has signed a 10-year information technology outsourcing deal worth about $300m with Dubai’s Emirates Airline, the American technology giant said Tuesday. Under the deal, IBM is to provide IT infrastructure as a service, allowing Emirates to more efficiently support passengers, it said. The services will allow Emirates to encrypt data almost in real time, and to build new apps with functionality other developers can tap into, the company said. IBM services will also help Emirates improve business-management systems and streamline airport operations, it said. Emirates confirmed the deal, but declined to comment further. The deal represents a move for Emirates toward managed services, outsourcing much of its IT infrastructure to IBM rather than managing its systems in-house. Many companies have adopted the managed-services model in recent years, in a bid to save money and run more efficiently. Lufthansa outsourced its IT infrastructure to IBM for seven years in a E1b deal in 2014. Finnair signed a cloud-services agreement with IBM last September. And Etihad Airways reached a 10-year, $700m IT and investment deal with IBM in October.<br/>