Aireon LLC announced it has signed a credit facility agreement for $200 million with a group of several independent investor funds, led by Deutsche Bank. This credit facility provides Aireon with the resources to fund various company initiatives and to continue to pay Iridium for the costs related to the integration, launch and hosting of the AireonSM payload on each of the 81 Iridium® NEXT satellites.  The agreement was signed on December 21st, 2018. This announcement comes just days after the final launch of Iridium NEXT satellites and their Aireon hosted-payloads.

"This credit facility is a vote of confidence in Aireon's business model and a testament to the team, technology, investors and our role in the future of the aviation industry," said Rich Nyren, CFO, Aireon. "Iridium, as one of the founding partners with NAV CANADA, enabled the Aireon opportunity through its $3 billion investment in the incredible Iridium NEXT satellite constellation.  Aireon has benefited by this relationship, and this facility now provides a vehicle by which Aireon can more quickly pay Iridium for access to this prime real estate in orbit."

Sunil Sharma of Deutsche Bank commented, "Deutsche Bank is delighted to have worked with Aireon and its key shareholders on this landmark financing in the Air Traffic Control and Satellite sectors. We look forward to working with the management team towards the commencement of the Company's full scale commercial operations in 2019."

The eleven long-term contracts signed with its launch Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) customers have provided Aireon with a strong financial foundation. Aireon has already started paying the $200 million hosting fee owed to Iridium, and this new credit facility has enabled the company to pay another $35 million in 2018 for a total of $43 million to date.