Boeing buys back fuselage manufacturer Spirit after series of breakdowns
At the beginning of the year, a Boeing body part went rogue from one. The responsible supplier, Spirit Aerosystems, is now being pulled back into the corporation by the Americans. This is intended to help Boeing get a grip on its quality issues. Airbus is also taking on works - and even receiving money for it.
The crisis-stricken aircraft manufacturer Boeing is bringing back the important supplier Spirit Aerosystems under the corporate umbrella. For a long time, criticism has been voiced that the separation of this former Boeing division made it difficult to maintain quality standards.
Boeing pays the purchase price in the form of stocks. Spirit is valued at around 4.7 billion dollars in this deal, as Boeing announces. Boeing also takes over around 3.6 billion dollars in debt.
At Spirit, the body of machines of the type Boeing 737 is built. The once separated company produced parts of wings and body fragments for Airbus after later acquisitions. A solution had to be found before Boeing could reabsorb Spirit.
Spirit drilled multiple wrong holes
Airbus now reports that several Spirit factories will go to the European consortium. Unlike Boeing, Airbus does not pay a purchase price - but receives 559 million dollars as a kind of dowry from Spirit.
The separation of this division from Boeing followed the trend at the time of corporations slimming down and saving money by outsourcing activities to suppliers. However, the general consensus has since emerged that the separation from Spirit led to quality problems and a loss of control by Boeing. In recent years, there have been repeated issues. For example, it was found that Spirit drilled the wrong holes in the bodies of several machines.
A free-flying Boeing body part came from Spirit
Spirit played a role in the dramatic event in January when a body part of a nearly new Boeing 737-9 Max from Alaska Airlines came loose in flight. The fragment was produced at Spirit and delivered to Boeing. There, the fragment was removed for aftermarket work. Boeing could not find any documentation - but the investigative authority NTSB assumes that the machine was delivered to the airline without the required two bolts on the body part.
After the incident with the Alaska machine, Boeing came under increased pressure to improve quality control. One of the measures was to send more inspectors to Spirit to ensure that any errors were identified and corrected there and not only after delivery to the Boeing plant. In March, Boeing also announced that negotiations over the acquisition of Spirit were taking place.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun emphasizes that the deal is in the interest of airline passengers, the aircraft manufacturer, the airlines "and the country as a whole". Some Spirit activities in the defense sector are also being transferred to Boeing.
Media: Boeing threatens stress with US government
According to media reports, the near-accident with the Alaska machine will have serious consequences for Boeing. The "New York Times" and Bloomberg reported that the US Department of Justice is officially accusing Boeing of fraud.
It concerns the agreement under which Boeing previously avoided prosecution following the crashes of two 737-Max machines in 2018 and 2019. The company had to pay a fine of 243.6 million dollars and implement a compliance and ethics program. The Department of Justice determined in May that Boeing had violated the terms of the deal.
Boeing had some time between acknowledging a liability and facing a legal process, according to media reports. If Boeing admits fault, the company would have to pay an additional $243.6 million and accept a monitor, Bloomberg wrote.
Two crashes involving 737-Max planes in October 2018 and March 2019 resulted in the deaths of 346 people. An investigation found that a software of the planes, intended to support pilots, intervened more forcefully in the control than they expected, according to reports.
Boeing faced criticism as employees of the aircraft manufacturer were reportedly deemed unnecessary by US regulatory bodies for special software training during the type certification process.
In light of the quality issuesBoeing has been facing, bringing back Spirit Aerosystems under their corporate umbrella is a strategic move to improve aviation standards. This move is aimed at resolving the long-standing criticism that the separation of Spirit made it difficult for Boeing to maintain quality control, leading to incidents like drilled wrong holes in some machine bodies.
Boeing's decision to reintegrate Spirit also follows the revelation of a rogue Boeing body part that came loose during a flight, prompting increased pressure on Boeing to enhance its quality control measures. This incident highlighted the need for better communication and collaboration between Boeing and its suppliers, such as Spirit.
