Boeing Co. 737 fuselage sections sit on the assembly floor at Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kansas.
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Boeing aircraft said Monday that it will acquire Spirit Aviation Systems in a global deal that the planemaker says will improve safety and quality as it grapples with its latest production crises.
In March, Boeing revealed that it had in talks to buy back The Wichita, Kansas-based company said it had lost control of its aircraft just weeks after a fuselage panel was blown off a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9 in midair on an Alaska Airlines flight. Spirit makes fuselages for the 737 and other parts, including parts for Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board on the Jan. 5 crash said it appears the bolts holding the door latches were not attached to the Max 9 when it left the Boeing factory and was delivered to the Alaska Airlines month before the accident.
It was the most serious of several Boeing manufacturing problems, including fuselages manufactured by Spirit that had incorrectly drilled holes and improperly connected fuselage panels.
The crisis stemming from a door plug explosion in the Alaska crash has slowed deliveries of new Boeing planes and taken a financial toll on both Spirit and Boeing. Its chief financial officer said in May that the company would burn, rather than generate, cash this year—about $8 billion in the first half of 2024. Boeing shares are down more than 30% this year.
One way Boeing has tried to improve quality is to accept only fuselages that are free of defects so that repairs or additional manufacturing steps do not have to be performed out of sequence, reducing the chance of errors.
Boeing is under pressure from investors, airlines, lawmakers, regulators and the public to show it can improve quality. Bringing Spirit back into service could give Boeing closer quality oversight as U.S. lawmakers and regulators increase scrutiny of the jet maker. Boeing spun off operations in Kansas and Oklahoma to become what is now Spirit AeroSystems in 2005.
Boeing accounted for about 70% of Spirit’s revenue last year, while about a quarter came from making components for Boeing’s main rival, Airbus, according to a securities filing.
The Federal Aviation Administration says it won’t allow Boeing to expand production until it’s satisfied with its production line.
Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun, who announced in March that he would step down at the end of the year, has skewered by lawmakers during a Senate hearing in June about the company’s safety record and what some senators complained was a lack of improvement following two fatal Max crashes.
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