Avio's CEO says SpaceX has 'gone captive' on launch customers
Per Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo: SpaceX's rideshare pullback is sending smallsat customers to European providers.
what happened
During Avio's September 10 earnings call, CEO Giulio Ranzo said the company is seeing an influx of customers unable to secure SpaceX launches. "SpaceX has already gone captive because we have a whole bunch of customers coming to us and saying, oh my God, can you fly us?" Ranzo said, referring to SpaceX's shift away from low-cost Falcon 9 rideshare missions. He said some of these customers used the International Space Summit in Paris to lobby European institutions for financial support to offset the higher cost of flying with a European provider.
why it matters
Ranzo's comments are the clearest on-record executive confirmation yet that SpaceX's rideshare pullback, reported since June and July, is already redirecting smallsat business toward European launch providers. For Avio, it is a demand signal behind Ranzo's ambition to raise Vega C's cadence from four to six flights a year, contingent on further investment and ESA support.