Rockwell Collins Wastes No Time in Rolling Out New Airshow Line of Products

In August, Rockwell Collins closed the deal on its acquisition of Airshow. Now, less than one month later, the company will introduce its first line of Collins-owned Airshow products here in Orlando.

Called Airshow 21, it is a family of integrated products that address the three key elements of the cabin: the "global office" with e-mail and Internet connectivity; the entertainment area with audio, video and flight information; and environmental controls for lights, temperature, lav and galley.

"[The Airshow acquisition] fits our strategy in the cabin," Denny Helgeson, Rockwell Collins vp and general manager for business and regional systems told Show News.

"A lot of products we don't have ourselves," Helgeson said. "We need to take our capabilities and find an acquisition that brings product and OEM position in place."

Rockwell Collins announced its intent to acquire Airshow this past June. Airshow, headquartered in Tustin, Calif., employs approximately 330 employees at facilities in Tustin; Kirkland, Wash.; Wichita, Kan.; Newark, Del.; and Toulouse, France.

Airshow provides a integrated suite of cabin electronics systems for business aircraft, including cabin environmental controls, passenger information and entertainment, and business support systems. In addition, Airshow offers network capabilities and the "moving map," which displays an aircraft on its flight path, to both business and commercial aircraft passengers. Rockwell Collins will incorporate these new capabilities into its current portfolio of products.

The Airshow organization will report to Helgeson, who is presently "looking at where the synergies are" before he makes strategic decisions on the Rockwell Collins/Airshow relationship.

He added: "Almost everything they've got is of value to us," specifically mentioning live television capability. "They've got some services we don't have right now. They'll help us get [content] on and off the aircraft."

Regarding the brand name "Airshow," Helgeson says the name "may stick around."

It will for at least this week's show as Rockwell Collins rolls out its new family of cabin electronic systems. Airshow 21 is described by the company as a "solution set of integrated systems and standalone products for the cabin." Airshow 21 is Rockwell Collins' strategy to move capabilities back to the cabin.
There are a variety of specific drivers behind the company's move into this area.

"First is increased demand for integrated solutions, especially from the OEMs, to reduce cycle time, [develop] standardized interfaces, and reduce the installation cost of cabin systems," said Rockwell Collins senior director of strategic management Bryan Vester. "Second is the demand for reliability and the need to reduce part count. Third is increased demand for flexibility and growth, and fourth is increased demand for high-speed connectivity."

As mentioned, this year's NBAA convention is the debut for the Airshow 21 line of products, so it is too early for Rockwell Collins to have sold an integrated package to an airframer or customer. That said, the company is in active dialogue with a "couple customers," said Tim Rayl, director of advanced products for business and regional systems. Asked to name a potential customer, he responded, "We have a close relationship with the [Bombardier] Global 5000."

By Barry Rosenberg