Iridium Buying Out Partners in Homegrown Aviation Tracking Company for $367M
The deal adds 100 million dollars in annual service revenue and 30 million dollars in OEBITDA, Iridium said.
- On Thursday, May 14, 2026, Iridium Communications Inc. announced a definitive agreement to acquire the remaining 61% of Aireon LLC for approximately $366.7 million, consolidating ownership of the global space-based air traffic surveillance provider.
- Aireon was founded as a partnership between Iridium and five air navigation service providers —NAV CANADA, NATS, Naviair, AirNav Ireland, and ENAV—to develop space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast flight tracking.
- Iridium will assume about $155 million in Aireon debt and expects the acquisition to generate at least $100 million in annual service revenue and $30 million in annualized OEBITDA.
- Aireon CEO Don Thoma noted the system tracks an average of 190,000 flights daily, providing critical data to global aviation operators, with the transaction targeted to close in early July.
- Integrating Aireon fully into Iridium enables development of future capabilities like space-based VHF communications, as the company studies additional missions launching before 2035 to enhance aviation safety services.
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Iridium purchases space-based ADS-B provider
Iridium Communications, a global satellite communications company, is acquiring the remaining stake in Aireon, bringing the world’s only space‑based ADS‑B surveillance system fully under its control in a move the company says will define the next era of global aviation safety.
PR Newswire
Iridium to Acquire Aireon, Advancing its Strategy to Lead the Future of Aviation Safety
/PRNewswire/ -- Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM), a leading provider of global voice, data, and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellite...
Iridium Buys Out Aireon, Betting on a Single Network for Global Aviation Safety
Iridium will acquire the remaining 61% of Aireon it does not already own in a deal worth roughly $366.7 million, bringing the world's only space-based air traffic surveillance system fully inside the satellite network that carries it. At a press briefing, executives Matt Desch and Don Thoma framed the move as the next step toward a single network unifying surveillance, communications and navigation for global aviation safety.
Iridium buys Aireon for aircraft tracking push
Iridium Communications has agreed to buy Aireon, the company behind a space-based aircraft tracking system used by air navigation service providers around the world. The deal brings Aireon fully inside Iridium, whose satellite constellation already carries Aireon’s Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology. Aireon uses these receivers to track ADS-B-equipped aircraft from space, including over oceans, polar regions and remote…
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