Boeing has closed its acquisition of Wichita, Kansas-based aerostructures manufacturer Spirit AeroSystems.
The company said Monday that it now owns all of Spirit’s Boeing-related commercial operations, including sites that make fuselages for the 737 program and major structures for the 767, 777, and 787. It also took over fuselage assembly for the P-8 and KC-46.
The transaction brings Spirit locations in Wichita, Dallas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Prestwick, Scotland, under Boeing’s banner, together with around 15,000 employees.
Legacy Spirit operations will be reorganized as Spirit Defense, a non-integrated subsidiary of Boeing Defense, Space, and Security. Spirit Defense will align with Boeing Defense for “financial reporting and select enterprise functional and site support,” company officials said, but will maintain “independent governance and operations.”
Boeing is splitting certain Spirit assets in Prestwick and Belfast, Northern Ireland, with competitor Airbus. The portion of the Belfast business joining Boeing will function as an independent subsidiary branded as Short Brothers, a Boeing Company.
Boeing agreed to buy Spirit last year in an all-stock transaction with an equity value of $4.7 billion. Because the manufacturer is taking on Spirit’s debt, the total enterprise value of the deal is about $8.3 billion.
“This is a pivotal moment in Boeing’s history and future success as we begin to integrate Spirit AeroSystems’ commercial and aftermarket operations and establish Spirit Defense,” Boeing president and CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a news release. “As we welcome our new teammates and bring our two companies together, our focus is on maintaining stability so we can continue delivering high quality airplanes, differentiated services, and advanced defense capabilities for our customers and the industry.”
Airbus Acquisitions
As part of Spirit’s sale, U.S. regulators ruled that Boeing had to give up sites that make aerostructures and other components for Airbus aircraft. This was to prevent a scenario where Boeing could have interfered with or slowed the flow of needed parts to its rival.
Airbus confirmed Monday that it has taken ownership of Spirit assets in Kinston, North Carolina, Saint-Nazaire, France, and Casablanca, Morocco, along with the sites in Prestwick and Belfast.
The location in Kinston makes A350 fuselage sections.
Florent Massou, Airbus’ executive vice president of operations for commercial aircraft, said the transfer will bring over 4,000 workers into the company.
The manufacturer also said that it will move the production of A220 pylons from Wichita to Saint-Eloi, Toulouse, France. It was not immediately clear how many jobs in Wichita will be lost as a result.
Boeing’s acquisition of Spirit is something of a reunion, since Boeing spun off the businesses that became Spirit in 2005. The stand-alone company was initially known as Mid-Western Aircraft Systems before changing its name.
Spirit has weathered heavy financial losses in recent years as a result of increased production costs, a 2024 strike at Boeing, and changes to manufacturing targets brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Boeing has said its purchase of Spirit will help it impose uniform safety and quality standards across its production lines. It also gives Boeing access to its largest single supplier of spare aircraft parts.
