Boeing to acquire troubled supplier Spirit AeroSystems, with Airbus parts split off

Gaining more control over manufacturing quality was another impetus for Boeing to take Spirit over.

Major quality lapses in Spirit’s building of the 737 MAX fuselage in Wichita last year had cut MAX deliveries to airlines for some months first in April then again in August.

This year, a constant flow of defect-ridden fuselages requiring minor rework at the MAX final assembly plant in Renton contributed to the Alaska Airlines incident in January.

“We believe this deal is in the best interest of the flying public, our airline customers, the employees of Spirit and Boeing, our shareholders and the country more broadly,” said CEO Calhoun. “By reintegrating Spirit, we can fully align our commercial production systems, including our Safety and Quality Management Systems, and our workforce to the same priorities, incentives and outcomes — centered on safety and quality.”

Three separate news releases Sunday night, from Airbus, Boeing and Spirit, laid out their agreement on how Spirit will be dissected.

Airbus will acquire critical Spirit manufacturing facilities that supply its aircraft, notably in Kinston, North Carolina, and St. Nazaire in France that build part of the A350 fuselage; in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Casablanca, Morocco, that build the wings and midfuselage of the A220; and a facility in Wichita that builds the engine pylons for the A220.

“With this agreement, Airbus aims to ensure stability of supply for its commercial aircraft programmes through a more sustainable way forward, both operationally and financially, for the various Airbus work packages that Spirit AeroSystems is responsible for today,” the company said in a news release.

In addition, Spirit proposes to sell off three facilities:

—The part of its Belfast operation that makes non-Airbus parts for business jets

—A parts plant in Subang, Malaysia, which among other components builds the door plug for the 737 MAX, the part that blew off the Alaska Airlines jet in January

—A facility in Prestwick, Scotland, supplying smaller wing components for the A320 jet family.

In addition to the major sections built for its commercial jets, Boeing will acquire some new defense work from Spirit’s military programs.

With those, Boeing becomes a supplier to Northrop Grumman on the Air Force B-21 bomber; to Sikorsky, now part of Lockheed Martin, on the Army’s CH-3 heavy lift helicopter; and to Bell Helicopter on the Army’s new V-280 tilt-rotor.

Boeing said it “will work with Spirit to ensure the continuity of operations supporting Spirit’s customers and programs it acquires, including working with the U.S. Department of Defense and Spirit defense customers.”

With this deal, Boeing adds just under 14,000 employees, out of a total Spirit workforce of nearly 20,700.

About 12,600 are in Wichita, 1,100 in Tulsa and another 100 in Dallas.