Unfinished Boeing 737 fuselages are being produced at the Spirit AeroSystems plant in Wichita, Kansas.
Provided by Spirit AeroSystems
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Provided by Spirit AeroSystems
WASHINGTON — Boeing has reached an agreement to acquire one of its key suppliers, Spirit AeroSystems, reintegrating the aerospace giant with its 737 Max jet fuselage manufacturing plant in Wichita, Kansas.
The agreement announced Monday marks a shift from Boeing’s two-decade strategy of outsourcing key parts of its production process. The embattled planemaker has been working to rebuild trust with regulators, airlines and the flying public after an Alaska Airlines flight crashed in mid-air when a door panel exploded earlier this year.
The Spirit deal is an all-stock deal valued at $4.7 billion (including Spirit’s debt, totaling $8.3 billion) aimed at increasing oversight and control over the manufacturing business, which has been in the spotlight this year.
“We believe this transaction is right for the flying public, our airline customers, Spirit and Boeing employees, and our shareholders,” Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said in a statement announcing the deal. and the best interests of the entire country. Calhoun will resign at the end of the year as part of a restructuring following the 737 production problems and will face tough questions from senators at a hearing on Capitol Hill.
There were no serious injuries in the January crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, but the incident raised renewed concerns about Boeing’s quality control following crashes of two 737 Max jets in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. worries.
“The combination of Spirit and Boeing will result in greater integration of the two companies’ manufacturing and engineering capabilities, including safety and quality systems,” Spirit CEO Patrick Shanahan said in a statement. Shanahan was a senior executive at Boeing. Shanahan took over Spirit Airlines late last year after a series of embarrassing and costly quality problems.
A Boeing 737 fuselage built by Spirit AeroSystems is seen outside the Boeing manufacturing plant in Renton, Washington, on February 5, 2024.
David Ryder/Bloomberg/Getty Images
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A Boeing 737 fuselage built by Spirit AeroSystems is seen outside the Boeing manufacturing plant in Renton, Washington, on February 5, 2024.
David Ryder/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Federal investigators believe the door jam panel that caused a 737 Max 9 jet to explode in January was originally installed at Spirit’s plant in Wichita, Kansas, and then shipped to Boeing’s plant in Renton, Washington, for assembly. After the plane arrived in Washington, National Transportation Safety Board investigators said damaged rivets were found on the fuselage, requiring door jams to be removed for repairs.
According to photographic evidence Boeing provided to the NTSB, Spirit AeroSystems personnel did not reinstall the bolts after completing the work at the Boeing factory. Loose bolts were also found on other 737 Max jets operated by Alaska and United Airlines during follow-up inspections.
The fallout from the gate jam has created additional anxiety in Wichita, a city with deep ties to the aviation industry.
Boeing recently paid Spirit $425 million upfront to help stabilize the planemaker’s finances amid a slowdown in production of the planemaker’s popular 737 series. Federal regulators limited Boeing’s production to 38 planes per month, and Boeing is producing even less than that as it attempts to enforce stricter quality control standards.
In May, Boeing submitted a detailed plan to regulators at the Federal Aviation Administration to address its quality control issues. But not everyone is convinced the alliance with Spirit will help, with whistleblowers warning that problems at the company’s 737 plants are deep-rooted.
Boeing and Spirit Airlines have been in talks for months. But the deal is complicated because Spirit also supplies parts to Airbus, Boeing’s main rival in commercial aviation. While Boeing and Spirit agreed to the deal, Spirit is still negotiating with Airbus. Airbus said in a statement that while there was no guarantee the deal would be completed, “all parties are willing and interested in working together in good faith to progress and complete the process in as timely a manner as possible.”
After the Alaska Airlines crash, the FBI told passengers on the plane that they could be “possible victims of a crime.” In March, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into Spirit to examine “the company’s organization, conduct and management.”
Spirit was created in 2005 after Boeing sold its Wichita division.
