Rockwell Collins Bets on Smart Jets With $6.4 Billion Deal
- The internet of things comes to airplane cabin equipment
- Purchase would be biggest in avionics maker’s 83-year history
An employee, left, shows simulation system to an attendee at the Rockwell Collins Inc. booth during the Aero India air show at Air Force Station Yelahanka in Bengaluru, India, on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015. The bi-annual Aero India exhibit is the premier event for nations and companies to get a piece of the $150 billion that the world's biggest arms importer plans to spend on modernizing its military.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/BloombergRockwell Collins Inc. is making its biggest-ever acquisition in a bet that airplanes will get smarter, as everything from lie-flat seats to toilet valves send live data to inflight crews and maintenance workers.
The $6.4 billion purchase of B/E Aerospace Inc. eclipses the 83-year-old avionics maker’s takeover of Arinc Inc. in 2013. That deal, just 11 days after Kelly Ortberg was named chief executive officer, provided new ways to pipe data into planes. With B/E Aerospace, Ortberg gains the largest equipment supplier for aircraft cabins -- and the chance to provide reams of new information to airline operators.