Press Release: Mergers: Commission clears joint venture between Airbus and Sita

The European Commission on 27 January 2005 granted approval under the EU Merger Regulation to Airbus Group (France) and SITA (Netherlands) to form a joint venture, named OnAir, which was planned to develop and provide the nascent onboard communication services for commercial aircraft (such as in-flight telephony, SMS, e-mail, Internet and GSM onboard). The Commission concluded that the joint venture would not significantly impede effective competition in those markets.