Airbus will acquire some activities essential to several of its aircraft programs from US equipment maker Spirit AeroSystems
Spirit will be reintegrated by Boeing, AFP reported.
"Airbus has entered into a binding agreement with Spirit AeroSystems for the potential acquisition of core Airbus-related businesses," the European aircraft maker said, which will be "compensated for $559 million, at a nominal value of $1.00, subject to adjustments, including the final scope of the transaction".
Boeing is Spirit's biggest customer, with 60% of its revenue coming from the US planemaker in 2022. But the equipment maker is also a strategic supplier to its rival Airbus.
Boeing has confirmed it is buying Spirit's operations -- excluding those sold to Airbus -- for $4.7 billion. The total value of the deal, including debt, is $8.3 billion.
Airbus' intended acquisition will include "core Airbus-related activities," according to the European group.
These include the production of fuselage sections for the A350 in Kinston (North Carolina) and Saint-Nazaire (France), wings and center fuselage for the A220 in Belfast (Northern Ireland) and Casablanca (Morocco), and pylons for the A220 in Wichita (Kansas). .
"With this agreement, Airbus intends to ensure stable supplies for its commercial aircraft programs through a more sustainable development, both operationally and financially, of the various Airbus work packages for which Spirit AeroSystems is currently responsible."
In 2005, Boeing began a policy of outsourcing only the final assembly of its aircraft, spinning off its Wichita (Kansas) plant specializing in aerostructures and thus creating Spirit Aerosystems. Since then, the company has diversified its customer base and grown through acquisitions.
Spirit AeroSystems has been troubled by recurring quality and production issues, and following the January 5 incident in which the nose cone of the fuselage of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines broke off in flight, Spirit AeroSystems has been undergoing thorough inspection.
Those difficulties prompted Boeing, itself the subject of several investigations into noncompliance issues, to announce in early March that it was considering reintegrating Spirit, which until 2005 was part of the American giant. It was unthinkable for Airbus that its main competitor would become one of its strategic suppliers.
In late April, Airbus executive chairman Guillaume Faury said he was monitoring the situation "closely".
"We don't want large work packages delivered by our main and only competitor," he said. | BGNES
