Brussels Airport becomes 50% shareholder in SkeyDrone, the drone innovation company launched by skeyes in 2020

Brussels Airport Company and skeyes signed today an agreement whereby Brussels Airport will become a 50% shareholder in SkeyDrone, a subsidiary of skeyes. SkeyDrone offers a range of services that enable safe and efficient drone operations. With this acquisition, Brussels Airport intends to play an active role in the drone technology developments and in the provision of drone services to various industries in Belgium and abroad.

Brussels Airport Company and skeyes agreed today that Brussels Airport will acquire new shares to be issued by SkeyDrone, whereby Brussels Airport will own 50% less 1 share in SkeyDrone and skeyes the remaining shares. skeyes and Brussels Airport Company will also sign a shareholders’ agreement that organizes the governance and the strategic development of SkeyDrone in the future.

Currently a 100% subsidiary of skeyes, SkeyDrone offers positioning, navigation, guidance and data analysis services for unmanned aircraft in Belgium and abroad. Over the past year, Brussels Airport has worked closely with skeyes and SkeyDrone on various drone projects in fields such as intrusion detection, aerodrome safety, operational efficiency, etc.

Brussels Airport’s ambition is to play a leading role together with skeyes and SkeyDrone in developing and applying innovative uses of drones. By sharing knowledge, expertise and aviation experience as one of Europe’s leading airports, Brussels Airport also intends to support SkeyDrone’s future growth ambitions.

“Brussels Airport’s investment in SkeyDrone is strategic and goes beyond investing in drone know-how and technology. It is an investment in co-creating the future of unmanned air traffic together with 2 key players in this field, skeyes and SkeyDrone. With SkeyDrone, we can fully explore, develop and commercialise drone management systems and drone services that can be used on a daily basis by clients in various industries.”, says Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport Company.  

"Drones are becoming omnipresent in the airspace. It is our task to let them take their place safely among the existing air traffic. As users of the airspace, airports know better than anyone the challenges this brings. skeyes and SkeyDrone therefore attach great importance to Brussels Airport Company's insights into developments concerning drones and the needs of airports to deal with this new reality. By participating in SkeyDrone, we can now count on their direct input. skeyes has set up these kinds of partnerships for several areas of its operation, fully in line with our strategy.", says Johan Decuyper, CEO of skeyes.

"We are very pleased to welcome Brussels Airport Company as a new shareholder. This capital increase comes at the right time and further strengthens our ambitions to play a central role in the European drone eco-system with a view to further activating the drone sector and implementing U-space in 2023.", says Hendrik-Jan Van Der Gucht, Managing Director of SkeyDrone.  

The transaction is subject to approval by the relevant competition authorities and is expected to be completed early 2022.