Airbus is exploring a sale of its US space business as the Franco-German planemaker focuses on building a pan-European satellite champion through a three-way merger. The company is gauging interest from prospective buyers for the US business, which includes a Florida factory and the Arrow family of small, mass-producible satellites serving commercial and government communications, including national security needs. In 2024, Airbus took full control of its Airbus One Web Satellites (AOS) joint venture after acquiring the remaining 50% stake. Established in 2016, the venture had built over 600 satellites for One Web's first-generation low-orbit internet constellation.

Airbus has been shifting satellite production back to Europe from the US for some time, including building 440 low Earth orbit satellites in its Toulouse facility, which it called a "further step for European sovereignty." The orders have come from France's Eutelsat, which acquired One Web of the UK out of bankruptcy in 2022. While the company does not publish revenue figures for the US space business, two people familiar with the unit estimated that it had several hundred million dollars in sales. The space business employed more than 200 people at its Merritt Island facility on Florida's Space Coast, near Kennedy Space Center and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin. That compares with about 11,000 employees worldwide supporting space activities at Airbus.

The potential sale underscores Airbus's efforts to turn around its struggling global space business, where it booked €989mn in charges in 2024. In October, Airbus struck a deal with Leonardo of Italy and France's Thales to combine satellite manufacturing activities codenamed Bromo, aiming to submit the plan to EU antitrust authorities later this year with a view to making the new company operational in 2027.