Airplane
fuselages
bound
for
Boeing’s
737
Max
production
facility
sit
in
storage
at
their
top
supplier,
Spirit
AeroSystems
Holdings
Inc,
in
Wichita,
Kansas,
U.S.
December
17,
2019.
Nick
Oxford
|
Reuters
Boeing
is
in
talks
to
buy
back
Spirit
AeroSystems,
which
makes
fuselages
for
Boeing’s
737
Max
jets,
the
companies
said
Friday,
as
the
manufacturers
scramble
to
stamp
out
production
flaws
on
the
top-selling
plane.
Shares
of
Spirit
rose
15%
on
Friday,
while
Boeing’s
stock
fell
close
to
2%.
Spirit
AeroSystems
had
a
market
capitalization
of
$3.8
billion
as
of
Friday’s
close.
Boeing
in
2005
spun
off
operations
in
Kansas
and
Oklahoma
that
became
the
present-day
Spirit
AeroSystems.
About
70%
of
Spirit’s
revenue
last
year
came
from
Boeing,
and
roughly
a
quarter
came
from
making
parts
for
Boeing’s
main
rival,
Airbus,
according
to
a
securities
filing.
Airbus
declined
to
comment
on
the
deal
talks.
“We
believe
that
the
reintegration
of
Boeing
and
Spirit
AeroSystems’
manufacturing
operations
would
further
strengthen
aviation
safety,
improve
quality
and
serve
the
interests
of
our
customers,
employees,
and
shareholders,”
Boeing
said
in
a
statement
on
Friday.
“Although
there
can
be
no
assurance
that
we
will
be
able
to
reach
an
agreement,
we
are
committed
to
finding
ways
to
continue
to
improve
the
safety
and
quality
of
the
airplanes
on
which
millions
of
people
depend
each
and
every
day.”
Spirit
also
confirmed
the
talks.
Boeing
CEO
Dave
Calhoun,
when
asked
about
outsourcing
production
of
parts
of
its
airplanes,
told
CNBC
in
January:
“Did
it
go
too
far?
Yeah
…
probably
did,
but
now
it’s
here
and
now
I
gotta
deal
with
it.”
Spirit
has
struggled
financially,
and
was
last
profitable
in
2019,
before
the
pandemic.
In
October,
Spirit
appointed
Pat
Shanahan,
who
spent
about
three
decades
at
Boeing,
as
its
new,
interim
CEO.
The
deal
talks
come
less
than
two
months
after
a
section
of
a
Boeing
737
Max
9
plane
blew
out
during
an
Alaska
Airlines
flight.
The
Federal
Aviation
Administration
temporarily
grounded
all
of
the
planes
in
January,
leading
to
investigations
into
the
accident
and
Boeing’s
production
lines.
It
was
the
latest
and
most
serious
in
a
host
of
flaws
on
the
Boeing
737
Max,
the
company’s
bestselling
jet.
The
bolts
on
the
door
plug
of
the
Max
involved
in
the
January
accident
appeared
not
to
have
been
attached
when
it
left
Boeing’s
Renton,
Washington,
factory,
according
to
a
preliminary
report
from
the
National
Transportation
Safety
Board.
Boeing
has
disclosed
several
production
problems
and
quality
flaws
on
the
fuselages
that
Spirit
makes,
including
incorrectly
drilled
holes
and
wrong
spacing
on
some
fuselage
components,
problems
that
have
slowed
deliveries
of
new
jets
to
airlines.
The
FAA,
which
oversees
Boeing
and
certifies
its
planes,
has
vowed
deeper
scrutiny
of
the
company’s
production
lines
since
the
Jan.
5
accident.
Earlier
this
week,
after
a
meeting
with
Calhoun,
the
FAA’s
administrator,
Mike
Whitaker,
said
the
agency
was
giving
the
company
90
days
to
come
up
with
a
plan
to
improve
its
quality
control
and
safety
systems.
Boeing
and
Spirit’s
deal
talks
were
reported
earlier
by
The
Wall
Street
Journal.
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