Dassault Systèmes and Airbus Expand Strategic Partnership to Accelerate Digital Transformation and Next-Generation Aerospace Innovation
Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: FR0014003TT8, DSY.PA) and Airbus have announced a significant extension of their long-standing strategic partnership, reinforcing their shared commitment to innovation and digital transformation across the aerospace sector. Under this renewed collaboration, Airbus will further integrate Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform as a core digital foundation for all new aircraft development programs, including both civil and military aviation, as well as rotary-wing platforms.
The expansion of this partnership marks a pivotal milestone in Airbus’ digital journey. By scaling the deployment of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, Airbus aims to unify and enhance lifecycle management processes across its entire product portfolio—enabling more agile development, optimized manufacturing, and enhanced customer support.
This next phase of collaboration positions the 3DEXPERIENCE platform as a digital backbone to drive operational excellence and innovation throughout Airbus’ global enterprise. More than 20,000 users across the company’s various divisions—including engineering, manufacturing, services, and supply chain—will gain access to a unified virtual environment, facilitating real-time collaboration, streamlined data management, and simulation-driven decision-making.
In addition to internal teams, Airbus’ extensive network of suppliers and partners will also benefit from this integrated digital ecosystem. Whether operating on-premises or via a sovereign cloud, stakeholders throughout the aerospace value chain will be empowered to work in synchrony using virtual twin technologies to visualize, analyze, and optimize aircraft development processes with unprecedented precision and speed.
Harnessing Virtual Twins to Transform Aerospace Development
Virtual twins, a core capability of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, are poised to play a transformative role in Airbus’ design, production, and in-service support activities. These digital replicas of physical systems enable engineers and decision-makers to model complex systems, simulate performance under real-world conditions, and iteratively improve designs well before physical prototypes are built.
By leveraging virtual twin experiences, Airbus expects to shorten development cycles, accelerate time-to-market for new aircraft platforms, and reduce reliance on costly physical testing. At the same time, these tools offer a powerful means to anticipate and mitigate risks, identify bottlenecks in production workflows, and proactively manage maintenance and service operations.
In a highly competitive and regulated industry, the ability to maintain product quality, safety, and regulatory compliance while reducing costs is essential. The Dassault Systèmes platform provides Airbus with the capabilities to meet these challenges head-on, offering end-to-end traceability, robust configuration management, and integrated systems engineering tools within a single collaborative environment.
Supporting Strategic Priorities Across Civil, Defense, and Sustainability Initiatives
Airbus’ decision to deepen its partnership with Dassault Systèmes comes at a critical juncture for the aerospace sector. With global air travel rebounding, defense priorities evolving, and environmental sustainability becoming a central focus, aerospace companies must pursue innovation at scale while navigating increasing complexity.
In a statement, Guillaume Faury, Chief Executive Officer of Airbus, highlighted the strategic importance of digitalization as a catalyst for growth, competitiveness, and sustainability:
“Digitalization is a key enabler that we are leveraging to support our core priorities, whether it is ramping up the production of our commercial aircraft, preparing the next generation of platforms that will further contribute to the decarbonization of our sector, or pioneering the defense and security solutions of tomorrow. This renewed partnership with Dassault Systèmes will play an important role in accelerating our progress towards these goals, while ensuring the highest levels of quality, safety, and security throughout the lifecycle of our products and solutions—from design to in-service operations.”
Airbus’ commercial aviation division is currently focused on ramping up production rates to meet surging demand for fuel-efficient aircraft, such as the A320neo family. At the same time, the company is investing in future-focused initiatives, including hydrogen-powered aircraft concepts, advanced air mobility solutions, and next-generation defense platforms.
Dassault Systèmes’ platform will serve as a key enabler for these efforts by fostering cross-functional collaboration, enabling scalable innovation, and ensuring that sustainability and performance considerations are embedded throughout the entire product lifecycle.
A Shared Vision for the Future of Aerospace
The extended collaboration is built upon decades of trust and technological alignment between the two companies. Dassault Systèmes and Airbus have worked closely together since the early days of digital design, with Airbus being among the first major aerospace OEMs to adopt Dassault’s software tools in the development of aircraft such as the A380 and A350.
Bernard Charlès, Executive Chairman of Dassault Systèmes, emphasized the strategic nature of the partnership and the broader impact it will have on the aerospace industry:
“Our long history of collaboration with Airbus embarks on its next chapter, enabling the entire enterprise and its value chain to innovate globally, efficiently, and virtually for decades to come. Airbus can take full advantage of AI-powered generative experiences, and scientific advances in material science, modeling, simulation, production, and operations systems efficiency with our 3DEXPERIENCE platform. This will open new possibilities to imagine, create, and produce the experiences that will define the future of the aerospace industry.”
Charlès also noted the importance of embedding intelligence into every stage of the aircraft lifecycle. From conceptual design and digital mockups to maintenance forecasting and fleet optimization, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform offers Airbus a future-ready environment to harness data, automation, and artificial intelligence in pursuit of continuous improvement and innovation.
Conclusion: Empowering Aerospace Excellence Through Digital Transformation
As Airbus and Dassault Systèmes embark on this next phase of their strategic alliance, the focus is squarely on enabling sustainable growth, operational agility, and technical leadership in a fast-changing industry landscape.
With the 3DEXPERIENCE platform serving as a unified digital foundation, Airbus is well-positioned to deliver the next generation of aerospace systems—more innovative, more sustainable, and more connected than ever before. This collaboration not only strengthens Airbus’ internal capabilities but also fosters a broader ecosystem of digital excellence that spans partners, suppliers, and customers around the world.
By extending their partnership, Dassault Systemes and Airbus are not only reaffirming their shared commitment to technological advancement but also charting a bold new course for the future of aerospace innovation.
ABOUT DASSAULT SYSTÈMES
Dassault Systemes is a catalyst for human progress. Since 1981, the company has pioneered virtual worlds to improve real life for consumers, patients and citizens. With Dassault Systemes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform, 370,000 customers of all sizes, in all industries, can collaborate, imagine and create sustainable innovations that drive meaningful impact.