Spirit Aerosystems, formerly part of Boeing, is headed back to the mothership in a deal that will split the company’s factories between those that work on Boeing planes and those that supply Airbus.
Boeing will pay $4.7 billion in stock for the Wichita-based company that makes the fuselages of Boeing’s 737 planes. Airbus, in a transaction that so far hasn’t been priced, will take over Spirit plants in North Carolina, France, Ireland and Morocco that supply fuselages, wings and other parts for Airbus’s A350 and A220 planes.
Spirit has been in financial difficulties for several years, as well as coming under scrutiny for its possible role in the incident last year in which an exterior panel of a 737 blew off in flight, exposing passengers on an Alaska Airlines flight to depressurization.
