Posted by John McHaleTOULOUSE, France, 27 July 2011. Airbus officials entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Metron Aviation in Dulles, Va. Metron Aviation provides air traffic management (ATM) products and services. The acquisition supports Airbus efforts in the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), Europe's Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) and other ATM upgrade programs..The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals, and Airbus officials say they expect it to be completed by the end of this year. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Engineers at Metron Aviation research and develop, air traffic flow management (ATFM), airspace design, energy and environmental solutions to airlines, air navigation service providers (ANSPs), and airports. The company is a prime contractor on System Engineering 2020 (SE-2020) -- the FAA's initiative for implementing NextGen -- and performs research and development work on SESAR as well. "The acquisition of Metron Aviation supports the Airbus strategy to help countries improve their ATM," says Eric Stefanello, chief executive officer of Airbus ProSky. "Together, we can provide a new level of capabilities to support NextGen and SESAR even better. Like Airbus ProSky, Metron Aviation is not an ATM equipment manufacturer, so the acquisition is a perfect fit for our approach of seeking to partner with the FAA and the world’s ANSPs." Metron Aviation will be a U.S. subsidiary of Airbus Americas, Inc., and its board of directors will be run by Allan McArtor, chairman of Airbus Americas and former administrator of the FAA. For more information, visit www.metronaviation.com and www.airbus.com.
