NFollowing a dramatic incident with one of its 737 Max aircraft, Boeing is taking another step aimed at addressing quality deficiencies. The company confirmed on Friday that it was in talks to acquire its supplier Spirit Aerosystems. A hefty sum would be due for this; Spirit was valued at $3.8 billion on the stock exchange at the close of trading on Friday. After the negotiations became known, the share price rose by 15 percent.
Spirit emerged from Boeing in 2005, so if sold, it would return to its former parent company. The company makes around two thirds of its sales from Boeing, with Boeing's competitor Airbus accounting for most of the rest. As the Wall Street Journal wrote, Spirit is also considering selling its manufacturing facility in Northern Ireland, which makes components for Airbus.
Boeing has already drawn several conclusions
Spirit makes aircraft fuselages for Boeing, among other companies, and it was a fuselage part that was involved in the January accident. Back then, on an Alaska Airlines flight with a 737 Max 9, a door-sized fuselage section fell out shortly after takeoff, leaving a gaping hole in the cabin wall. The American aviation authority FAA then ordered a flight ban for the aircraft, which lasted several weeks.
A preliminary report from the US safety authority NTSB on the accident revealed that four retaining bolts for the fuselage part that later fell out were missing. The fuselage part was apparently removed for repair work at the Boeing factory near Seattle last September, but was then reinserted without the bolts. The report left it unclear who exactly removed and reinstalled the part, so the mistake could have been Boeing employees. Regardless of this, Spirit has often been criticized for quality issues.
Boeing has already taken a number of consequences since the incident. Almost two weeks ago it was announced that Ed Clark had resigned from his position as head of the entire 737 Max program with immediate effect and left the company. Boeing has also hired a former American Navy admiral as a “special advisor” focused on quality. The FAA, in turn, announced it would “aggressively expand” its oversight of Boeing manufacturing and increase its presence at each of the manufacturer’s plants.
In its statement on Friday, Boeing said: “We believe the reintegrating of Boeing and Spirit Aerosystems' manufacturing operations would further strengthen aviation safety and improve quality.” The acquisition would amount to a strategic turnaround. The aim of the spin-off of the activities in 2005 was to concentrate more on final assembly and to outsource the production of components. In a conversation with the television station CNBC a few weeks ago, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun admitted that he may have gone too far with outsourcing.
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