Airbus Creates New Flight-planning Company From Navtech Acquistion

Airbus and its recently acquired flight-planning company Navtech have formed a new company—NavBlue—to provide flight operations and air traffic management (ATM) services. NavBlue is positioned within the Airbus services business unit.

Laurent Martinez, senior vice-president of Airbus Services, and Navtech head Mike Hulley unveiled the new company Tuesday here at the Farnborough Airshow. Airbus (Outdoor Exhibit 13 & 25) acquired Waterloo, Canada-based Navtech in March. Hulley is now president and CEO of NavBlue, which operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Airbus.

With principal locations at Waterloo, Hersham UK and Toulouse, France, NavBlue supplies electronic flight bag applications, aeronautical charts, navigation data and performance-based navigation, flight, aircraft performance and crew planning. It is complemented by ATM solutions offered by Airbus ProSky and Airbus products including the runway overrun protection system (ROPS) and FlySmart, a system that links aircraft with ground-based IT systems.

NavBlue aeronautical products will be supported by Airbus Defense and Space “geo intelligence” as well as satellite data, said Hulley, who described the company as an end-to-end provider of digital services. “We will be a game-changer for our users,” he declared.

Airbus Services also released its first global services forecast. The company predicts that the cumulative value of maintenance, repair and overhaul activity will be $1.8 trillion by 2035. On an annual basis, Airbus predicts that MRO spending will grow from $53 billion in 2015 to $132 billion in the next two decades, showing average year-on-year growth of 4.6 percent. The Asia-Pacific region will experience the greatest regional growth.

Airbus Services currently supports 8,400 aircraft and employs 2,800 people, Martinez said.