An unfinished Boeing 737 fuselage during production at the Spirit AeroSystems plant in Wichita, Kan.
Courtesy of Spirit AeroSystems
hide caption
convert caption
Courtesy of Spirit AeroSystems
WASHINGTON – Boeing has reached an acquisition agreement Spirit Airlinesone of its key suppliers, reuniting the aerospace giant with the factory fuselage for 737 Max jet in Wichita, Kan.
The The deal was announced on Monday. marks a shift from Boeing’s two-decade strategy of outsourcing key parts of its manufacturing process. Airplane manufacturers are in trouble struggled to rebuild trust with regulatorsairlines and flying public Later a doorstop was blown off an Alaska Airlines flight was airborne earlier this year.
The Spirit deal, an all-stock transaction valued at $4.7 billion (including Spirit’s debt totaling $8.3 billion), is intended to give Boeing greater oversight and control over manufacturing operations that have come under intense scrutiny this year.
“We believe this agreement is in the best interests of air travelers, airline customers, Spirit and Boeing employees, our shareholders and the country at large,” Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said in a statement announcing the deal. Calhoun is resigning. at the end of the year as part of changes following the 737 production incident, and faced tough questions from senators in a hearing on Capitol Hill.
No one was seriously injured on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 in January, but the incident has raised concerns about Boeing’s quality control after The crash of two 737 Max aircraft in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 people.
“Combining Spirit and Boeing will allow for better integration of both companies’ manufacturing and engineering capabilities, including safety and quality systems,” said Spirit CEO Patrick Shanahan. in a statement. A former Boeing executive, Shanahan took the helm at Spirit late last year after a series of embarrassing and costly quality problems.
The fuselage of a Boeing 737 aircraft built by Spirit AeroSystems sits outside Boeing’s manufacturing facility in Renton, Washington, on February 5, 2024.
David Ryder/Bloomberg/Getty Images
hide caption
convert caption
David Ryder/Bloomberg/Getty Images
The fuselage of a Boeing 737 built by Spirit AeroSystems sits outside the Boeing manufacturing facility in Renton, Wash., on Feb. 5, 2024.
David Ryder/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Federal investigators believe the door latch that blew up the 737 Max 9 jet in January was originally installed at Spirit’s factory in Wichita, Kan., and then shipped to Boeing’s factory in Renton, Wash., for assembly. When it arrived in Washington, National Transportation Safety Board investigators said Damaged rivets were found on the fuselage. Requires opening the door plug for repair.
After Spirit AeroSystems employees completed that work at the Boeing plant, the bolts were not reinstalled, according to photographic evidence provided by Boeing to the NTSB. In subsequent tests, Loose bolts were found on other 737 Max jets operated by Alaska and United.
The fallout from the blockade has caused further anxiety in Wichita, a city with deep ties to the aviation industry.
Boeing recently advanced Spirit $425 million to help stabilize the company’s finances amid a slowdown in production of the plane maker’s popular 737. Federal regulators limit Boeing’s production to 38 planes per month, and Boeing produces even less than that when it tries to impose stricter quality control standards.
In May, Boeing presented to regulators at the Federal Aviation Administration a detailed plan to fix its quality control problems. But not everyone is convinced that the partnership with Spirit will help, with whistleblowers warning that Serious problem at the company’s 737 plant.
Boeing and Spirit have been negotiating for months. But the deal is complicated because Spirit also supplies parts to Airbus, Boeing’s major competitor in the commercial airline industry. While Boeing and Spirit have agreed to the deal, Spirit is still negotiating with Airbus. In a statementAirbus said that while there is no guarantee that the transaction will be concluded, “all parties are ready and interested to cooperate in good faith to progress and complete this process as promptly as possible.” “
After the Alaska Airlines crash, the FBI told passengers on the flight that they could “a possible victim of a crime.“In March, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Open an investigation into Spirit to examine the company’s “organization, operations, and management.”
Spirit was formed after Boeing sold its Wichita division in 2005. Boeing has manufactured aircraft there since the 1940s, including the Superfortress B-29 and other military bombers during World War II.
