Airbus to acquire some Spirit sites as part of Boeing deal
Airbus said it had reached a final agreement to acquire some of the assets and sites of Spirit Aerosystems ahead of the US supplier’s acquisition by Boeing.
The French planemaker on Monday outlined plans to take ownership of production at sites spanning Kansas, North Carolina, Northern Ireland, Morocco and France.
Airbus will also acquire the production of wing components for the A320 and A350 in Prestwick, on the west coast of Scotland.
The deal will see the company receive compensation totalling $439m (£329.8m) from struggling Spirit, which reported losses of more than half a billion dollars in February and has raised concerns over its long-term viability.
It is expected the transaction will close in the third quarter of 2025, subject to regulatory approval. Airbus has also agreed to provide Spirit with $200m of non-interest credit lines, which will be used to support some of the European manufacturer’s programmes.
The announcement was greeted with calls from unions for UK government intervention. More than 2000 workers at Spirit are employed on non-Airbus work, and their future is currently have uncertain.
Unite, the UK’s largest union, wants all Spriti sites and production in Northern Ireland to be transfered to a single aircraft manufacturer, a move which has support from local politicians and Stormont minsiters.
Spirit was acquired for $4.7bn by the US aero giant Boeing in July 2024, a deal that reunited the two firms after Boeing spun off its subsidiary in 2005.
It was also decided that Airbus would acquire some of its assets as part of an intricate and rare collaboration with its arch rival.
“With this operation, Airbus aims to ensure stability of supply for its commercial aircraft programmes through a more sustainable way forward, both operationally and financially, for key Airbus work packages,” the manufacturer said in a statement.
Airbus was initially supposed to receive $599m in compensation for taking over Spirit’s assets, but said on Monday the figure had been adjusted to reflect revised transaction perimeters.
It comes after chief executive Guillaume Faury warned that supply problems from Spirit, which manufactures components used in commercial aircraft, were impacting production of its A350 and A220 aircraft.
The acquisition of certain Spirit assets is expected to ease those issues.