Will we see a regional or global duopoly in the satellite manufacturing industry? The European perspective

Consolidation in the aerospace industry in the 1990s has been swift and dramatic as companies strive to gain size and scale in order to better compete both in the global aerospace commercial market and in the regional institutional market. Restructuring has stalled, however, in the satellite manufacturing industry since the turn of the century. And, despite the significant over-capacity that plagues the market and the financial stress endured by satellite manufacturers, the industry has shown remarkable resistance to restructuring and adapting itself to the new market size and reality. This paper explores whether the current satellite manufacturing industry structure is sustainable, or whether it will evolve towards a global or regional duopoly (one or two satellite manufacturers on each side of the Atlantic), by focusing on the European side of this hypothesis.