LONDON (Reuters) – Airbus is looking for opportunities to grow its business in the defence, space and satellite markets in particular, Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said on Sunday.
Airbus and France’s Thales are considering cooperating on some space activities as new competition disrupts the sector, industry sources said last week.
The initial talks, first reported by La Tribune, focused on the companies’ overlapping satellite activities, the sources said.
“We are looking at opportunities to create scale, that’s true in defence, that’s true in space, particularly in satellites,” Fury 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, in which Italy’s Leonardo has a 33% stake, are Europe’s two largest manufacturers of satellites for communications, navigation and surveillance.
Demand for their fixed satellites is under increasing pressure, as traditional manufacturers face competition from massive constellations of deployable satellites in low Earth orbit, such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s Starlink network.
Last month, Airbus imposed a 900 million euro ($980 million) charge on its troubled space services business, on top of 500 million euros last year.
The company is “evaluating all strategic options” for its space business, including restructuring, collaboration, portfolio review and potential merger and acquisition options, Fourie told analysts at the time.
