Airbus, Aireon Form Aircraft Surveillance Partnership; Iridium’s Matt Desch Comments

Airbus’ defense and space business has partnered with Iridium Communications’ subsidiary, Aireon, and introduced an airspace analytics platform at the Farnborough Airshow.

Aireon said Thursday it will deliver space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast data to Airbus’ recently launched analytics tool – AirSense – to facilitate real-time aircraft tracking, streamline airspace utilization and flight routes, and boost airport capacity.

“There will be so much value in the unique dataset that Aireon is creating with global, real-time aircraft tracks — something never before possible,” Iridium CEO Matt Desch said of the partnership in a tweet posted Thursday.

“It will be a big-data gold mine and help significantly improve air travel as the database builds,” added Desch, a four-time Wash100 recipient.

The companies expect the collaboration to advance the development of new applications designed to improve aviation operations.