Air navigation service providers to divest shareholding in pioneering surveillance company.
Navigation satellite specialist Iridium Communications is to take over Aireon, the operator of a space-based ADS-B system for air traffic surveillance.
Iridium already partly-owns Aireon but will acquire the outstanding 61% in the company from air navigation providers Nav Canada, AirNav Ireland, the UK’s NATS, Navair of Denmark and Italy’s ENAV.
It values the transaction at nearly $367 million.
The Aireon ADS-B system operates through a package which is carried on Iridium’s constellation, which comprises 66 low-earth orbit satellites.
North Atlantic flights — managed between NATS and Nav Canada — were the first to engage the ADS-B service.
Both of the air navigation providers will sign extended data service agreements through to 2035 and beyond, in relation to the acquisition.
Iridium says the acquisition “unifies” the only space-based air traffic surveillance system with the satellite network on which it has been based.
It brings together Aireon’s surveillance services — which include GPS jamming and spoofing detection — and Iridium’s position, navigation and timing integrity.
Iridium chief Matt Desch states that fully absorbing Aireon “better positions” the company to prepare for future innovations such as space-based VHF communications — likely to be developed in co-operation with Nav Canada and NATS.
Space-based VHF would improve communication capability for pilots operating flights in oceanic or remote regions where ground infrastructure is limited.
Aireon tracks around 190,000 flights daily, and the system’s data is used by air navigation providers covering over half of global airspace.
Chief executive Don Thoma says the two companies have been “partners since day one”.
“Becoming part of Iridium is a natural next step for our team, our customers, and our roadmap, particularly as our data products expand into new areas like turbulence detection and aviation data analytics,” he adds.
Aireon’s growing data business will also contribute to Iridium’s portfolio.
Iridium will pay half the acquisition price at close — expected in early July — and the balance after one year, and will assume Aireon’s outstanding debt of around $155 million. It expects the agreement to generate an additional $100 million of annual service revenues. Iridium’s first-quarter service revenues reached $158 million.
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