London: Airbus is actively seeking opportunities to scale up in the defense, space, and satellite markets, according to CEO Guillaume Faury. Speaking on Sunday, Faury highlighted the company’s strategic focus on expanding its presence in these sectors.
Recent industry sources have revealed that Airbus and France’s Thales are exploring a potential collaboration on space activities amid increasing sector disruption. Preliminary discussions, first reported by La Tribune, are centered around the companies’ overlapping satellite operations.
“We are looking at opportunities to create scale, and that’s true in defense, that’s true in space, and in particular on satellites,” Faury said, ahead of this week’s Farnborough Airshow. “We would be happy to find ways to create scale in the space environment in Europe in general.”
Airbus and Thales Alenia Space, which is partly owned by Italy’s Leonardo with a 33% stake, are Europe’s leading manufacturers of satellites used in telecommunications, navigation, and surveillance. However, demand for their geostationary satellites is facing increasing pressure due to competition from large constellations of low Earth orbit satellites, such as SpaceX’s Starlink network.
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In response to these challenges, Airbus recently took a €900 million ($980 million) charge on its struggling space services business, adding to the €500 million charge from the previous year. Faury informed analysts that the company is “evaluating all strategic options” for its space division, including restructuring, partnerships, portfolio adjustments, and potential mergers and acquisitions.
