Airbus Appoints Former Intelsat Exec Samer Halawi to Head New Business Under Defense & Space Segment

Samer Halawi, former executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Intelsat, has been named CEO of a newly formed connectivity business within Airbus Group‘s defense and space segment.

The three-decade industry veteran will oversee the unit that aims to develop and commercialize telecommunications services for the Zephyr high-altitude platform station, an unmanned aerial system designed to operate in the stratosphere, Airbus said July 18.

Halawi noted the new business seeks to offer alternative and complementary platforms to current terrestrial and satellite-based connectivity systems.

He worked at Intelsat from January 2018 to February 2022 and previously held leadership positions at OneWeb, Thuraya and Inmarsat.

Airbus also named Taz Esmail, former chief financial officer at Meta Aerospace, as CFO for the HAPS Services Business organization led by Halawi.

The U.S. Army is currently testing the Zephyr UAS platform as part of a stratospheric experimentation program.

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