Boeing, Airbus to jointly operate Spirit plant in Northern Ireland

The lack of a taker to acquire Spirit Aerosystems’ Belfast, Northern Ireland, facility will result in Boeing taking over the unit and sharing production at the site with Airbus.

A spokesman for the U.S. planemaker said Monday the company remains committed to acquiring Spirit and that Short Brothers Belfast employees “will be welcomed into the family.”

After agreeing to acquire a large stake in the aerostructures supplier for $4.7 billion, Boeing has reached agreements with Airbus to hand over the rival’s component assembly lines.

In Belfast, the European manufacturer makes the wings for the A220 and A350 and is expected to assemble the center fuselage section of the single-aisle jet.

At other facilities in the country, Spirit also supplies parts for business jets to Bombardier, the company that previously owned the facilities between 1989 and 2000.

The Canadian manufacturer was seen as the main candidate to take over the rest of the assets in Northern Ireland, but a deal was not reached with Boeing, despite the fact that production of skins for Bombardier planes continues.

There are about 3,500 Spirit employees in Belfast, whose fate is still unclear. Airbus has said its priority is to secure the transfer of employees and tooling to stabilize its production.

It is not ruled out, however, that the rest of the Belfast plant could still be sold to third parties.

A former Boeing division, Spirit Aerosystems was spun off in the past and became a supplier to several planemakers, but mounting debts and flaws in production processes have left the company in a precarious situation.

In order not to compromise the production of their commercial jets, Airbus and Boeing decided to acquire Spirit’s facilities in 2024.

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Ricardo Meier

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