Airbus CEO Eyes European Space Merger, Calls for Regulatory Flexibility
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury expressed interest in a potential space merger with Thales and Leonardo, drawing parallels to the successful MBDA European missile project.
Faury believes European companies possess superior technologies but lack the scale necessary to compete globally. He urged EU antitrust regulators to adopt a more permissive stance to foster consolidation in the sector.
MBDA, a joint venture between Airbus, BAE Systems, and Leonardo, emerged in 2001 amidst military budget cuts. European firms now face heightened competition in space activities, with a shift towards low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations.
Faury emphasized the need for a different regulatory approach to support European industry, stressing their smaller size compared to "giants" in the US and China.
Airbus recently disclosed a €300 million charge related to its Space business, bringing total writedowns to nearly €2 billion over two years. The OneSat program of reprogrammable satellites has been identified as a major contributor to these losses.
Satellite operator Eutelsat, an Airbus client, reported significant impairments on GEO satellites last Friday.