Airbus has agreed with soon-to-be Boeing-owned Spirit AeroSystems which of the troubled aerostructures supplier’s industrial sites it will acquire.
As part of this agreement, Airbus will take ownership of the Spirit AeroSystems sites that make parts for its aircraft. These include the key sites of Kinston in North Carolina, USA which makes A350 fuselage sections, and the Belfast, Northern Ireland site, which produces the wings and mid-fuselage sections for the A220.
In addition, Airbus is to take over Spirit’s St. Nazaire site in France, which also makes parts of the A350 fuselage, a site in Casablanca, Morocco that manufactures A321 and A220 components and a factory which produces A220 pylons in Wichita, Kansas.
Airbus will also acquire the production of wing components for the A320 and A350 in Prestwick, Scotland. Spirit AeroSystems intends to sell a site in Subang, Malaysia to a third-party owner.
Under the deal, Airbus will receive US$439 million in compensation from Spirit AeroSystems will provide the company with lines of credit of US$200 millionto support Airbus programs.
Airbus said the deal will ensure stability of supply for its commercial aircraft programs.
The deal is expected to close before the end of the year.
Talks to carve up Spirit AeroSystems’ assets have been ongoing since last year, when Boeing said it planned to acquire the Wichita-headquartered supplier, which was originally part of the US company until 2005.
Spirit has been beset by quality control problems and delays to programs, which were further compounded by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and various financial and organizational problems. Boeing’s acquisition of Spirit is expected to close in the coming months.
