1 week Ago By BreakingNews.ie
Airbus has finalised an agreement to take some assets from Spirit AeroSystems, both companies said on Monday, completing a critical part of a transatlantic carve-up of the struggling supplier with US rival Boeing. The deal means the European plane manufacturer will take over part of the Spirit AeroSystems operation in Belfast that makes carbon-fibre wings for the A220. Boeing agreed last year to buy back Spirit AeroSystems two decades after spinning it off for $4.
7 billion (€4.1 billion) in stock, while Airbus moved to take on its loss-making Europe-focused activities. Advertisement The unprecedented decision by competing plane giants to prevent a collapse of the world's largest independent aerostructures supplier follows years of financial pressure on Spirit brought to a head by Boeing's recent 737 MAX crisis.
The other plants involved in the transfer to Airbus is Kinston, North Carolina, where Spirit makes a crucial part of the A350 fuselage. Certain activities in Morocco and France are also included. Airbus said it would also acquire the production of wing components for A320 and A350 jets in Prestwick, Scotland.
Under the deal, Airbus will be compensated for taking on the loss-making production work by a payment of $439 million from Spirit, though this is less than the $559 million originally planned because of changes in the scope of the deal. Advertisement However, both companies said they expected the complex three-way deal to close in the third quarter rather than mid-year as previously indicated. Airbus will meanwhile provide new interest-free credit lines worth $200 million to Spirit, the companies said.
The deal leaves a question mark over part of the historic former Short Brothers plant in Belfast, the North's largest manufacturing employer, which was sold first to Canada's Bombardier then to Spirit and now to Airbus. Britain's biggest union, Unite, has urged the British government to prevent a break-up of the Spirit operation that employs 2,600 people in Northern Ireland. Advertisement Spirit said Airbus would acquire the production of A220 wings in Belfast.
In the event a suitable buyer is not found, Airbus would also take over production of the A220 mid-fuselage there. Besides supplying Airbus, Spirit's Belfast operation makes parts for Bombardier private jets and carries out work in defence and space. It lost $338 million in 2023.
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Read More Letters sent this month to employees from Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Stephanie Pope and Spirit chief executive Pat Shanahan suggest that some of the non-Airbus work in Belfast could go to Boeing by default if no alternatives are found. The decision to move ahead with plans to dismantle Spirit and shore up its production lines comes as Boeing boosts production of its 737 Max cash cow following a series of crises that weighed on output. Spirit Aero, which produces the fuselage for the Max, raised doubts last year about its ability to continue as a going concern, receiving financial help from both planemakers.
Airbus chief financial officer Thomas Toepfer told shareholders earlier this month the company expected to complete the agreement with Spirit by the end of April and formally close the deal by June 30th..
