Middle East airline Etihad has showcased is new passenger layout on its Airbus A321LR fleet, enthusiastically described by the airline as being “beautiful” and noting that Viasat will provide “superfast, streaming Wi-Fi” and live television throughout the cabin on these new aircraft, so passengers can stay entertained and productive during their flights. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad […]
The EU’s Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius says he has no objection to mergers in the satellite and space production sector. Speaking on April 11th at the New Economy Forum’s Europa Forum in Brussels, he said he was in favour or supporting champions, although did not specifically mention the Airbus and Thales Alenia merger […]
EchoStar company Hughes Network Systems has completed an agreement with Airbus to become an official Managed Service Provider (MSP) within the HBCplus in-flight connectivity ecosystem. Hughes solutions will be available in the Airbus catalogue, providing airlines with enhanced connectivity options. “Our partnership with Airbus on HBCplus gives airlines more flexibility in creating industry-leading connectivity experiences […]
Airbus and Amazon are working to enhance Airbus’ High Bandwidth Connectivity Plus (HBCplus) programme offerings with high speed, low-latency low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite inflight connectivity service (IFC) from Project Kuiper, Amazon’s satellite internet network. Following a recently signed MoU, Airbus and Amazon plan to integrate Project Kuiper’s connectivity solution into the Airbus line-fit and […]
Airbus, Thales Alenia and Leonardo, three giants in terms of satellite manufacture, are in “preliminary talks” to merge their operations. Rumours of a potential merger have been reported for some months. The talks would not involve the Airbus aircraft manufacturing business. French newspaper La Tribune reports that the trio are also in discussion with the […]
Europe’s two giant aerospace companies are looking to merge their satellite-related businesses. Airbus Defence & Space and Thales Alenia Space are in ‘nonbinding’ talks about merging their two divisions. One third of Thales Alenia is owned by Italy’s Leonardo (and Leonardo also controls two-thirds of Telespazio). Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury, speaking at the Airbus […]
Aerospace giant Airbus has hired Goldman Sachs to advise it on forming a European space and satellite company to compete with Elon Musk’s dominant SpaceX, according to Bloomberg News. Discussions are in an early stage to create the company with support from French aerospace company Thales and Italy’s Leonardo. The range of services for the […]
Thales Alenia Space (TAS), much rumoured to be considering merging itself with rivals Airbus Defence & Space, has very publicly stated that it can live quite happily without a merger. At a presentation on November 14th made by CEO Hervé Derrey he explained how he saw 2025 – and beyond – panning out. He said […]
Neo Space Group (NSG), a PIF-owned company and Saudi Arabian provider of satellite communication services, has been chosen by Turkish Airlines to equip its upcoming fleet of 14 A350 aircraft, currently in production and set for delivery in 2026 and 2027, with NSG’s IFC solution. Turkish Airlines is the first European carrier to partner with […]
Aerospace giant Airbus Defence & Space CEO Guillaume Faury told analysts that he would prefer to merge all of its Space Division with rival satellite specialist Thales Alenia Space’s similar activity. However, he added that if Europe’s anti-trust and political regulators found that difficult to approve, then Airbus would slice merger transactions into small pieces […]