Collins Aerospace to acquire FlightAware

Collins Aerospace, Cedar Rapids’ largest employer, will acquire digital flight-tracking platform FlightAware, it announced Monday afternoon.

FlightAware will be part of Collins Aerospace’s Cedar Rapids-based avionics division. FlightAware will remain based in Houston, Collins Aerospace spokeswoman Pam Tvrdy-Cleary said.

“FlightAware’s flight tracking and data platform, the largest in the world, has the potential to deliver new capabilities and innovations across our entire business,” said Dave Nieuwsma, the head of Collins Aerospace’s avionics division, in a news release.

FlightAware, founded in 2005, uses data from air traffic control systems and its own monitoring stations in 195 countries to provide global flight-tracking data, according to its website.

Daniel Baker, FlightAware’s chief executive officer, said in the news release the company is “excited to join Collins Aerospace and Raytheon Technologies at this pivotal time to continue to lead that revolution at an even broader scale.”

The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the acquisition. FlightAware previously was under private ownership.

Collins Aerospace is a business unit of Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon Technologies.

Collins Aerospace has about 9,000 employees in Cedar Rapids and Coralville, making it the largest private employer in the Corridor.

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