How to add empty object not using bpy.ops?

Question

How to add an empty object with python using bpy and not using any ops? My code so far is doing this:

bpy.ops.object.empty_add(type='PLAIN_AXES',radius=RADIUS,location=loc)

For normal object like mesh or lamp there is object_data created using normal bpy.data.object.new calls, but for empties it seems that this method does not exist. So is this possible to avoid using the operators? The reason I'm asking is because when I add an empty using bpy.ops it changes the active object, etc. causing the script to be more bloated with unnecessary code lines.

Answer 1

This is possible by placing None as the object data:

#                          Name,   Data
o = bpy.data.objects.new( "empty", None )
bpy.context.scene.objects.link( o )

You can later access its unique empty props like any ol' empty:

o.empty_draw_size = 2
o.empty_draw_type = 'PLAIN_AXES'

For Blender 2.8, the API change a little bit:

o = bpy.data.objects.new( "empty", None )

# due to the new mechanism of "collection"
bpy.context.scene.collection.objects.link( o )

# empty_draw was replaced by empty_display
o.empty_display_size = 2
o.empty_display_type = 'PLAIN_AXES'   

Answer 2

I made a function based on the answer by TLousky (Tested in Blender 3.2)

# Makes an empty, at location, stores it in existing collection
def make_empty(name, location, coll_name): #string, vector, string of existing coll
    empty_obj = bpy.data.objects.new( "empty", None, )
    empty_obj.name = name
    empty_obj.empty_display_size = 1 
    bpy.data.collections[coll_name].objects.link(empty_obj)
    empty_obj.location = location
    return empty_obj