Europe's Airbus has finalised an agreement to take some assets from Spirit AeroSystems, both companies said, completing a critical part of a transatlantic carve-up of the struggling supplier with US rival Boeing.
But the deal leaves a question mark over part of the company's operations in Belfast - the historic former Short Brothers plant in Belfast - Northern Ireland's largest manufacturing employer.
The company was sold first to Canada's Bombardier then to Spirit and now to Airbus.
US planemaker Boeing agreed last year to buy back the world's largest independent aerostructures supplier two decades after spinning it off for $4.7 billion in stock, while Airbus moved to take on its loss-making Europe-focused activities.
The unprecedented decision by competing plane giants to prevent a collapse of the world's largest independent aerostructures supplier follows years of financial pressure on Spirit brought to a head by Boeing's recent 737 MAX crisis.
Spirt's plant in Belfast, which makes carbon-fibre wings for the A220, is one of two plants involved in the deal.
Spirit employs 3,700 people in Northern Ireland but only about 800 of these workers assemble the wings.
The company's plant in Kinston in North Carolina, where Spirit makes a crucial part of the A350 fuselage, is also included.
Spirit said that Airbus would acquire the production of A220 wings in Belfast.
If a suitable buyer was not found, Airbus would also take over production of the A220 mid-fuselage there.
Senior Organiser at the GMB union Alan Perry said the best solution for the Belfast site is to remain as one identity.
"Today's announcement raises serious concerns over the future of more than 2,500 workers who don't work on the Airbus contract," he said.
"GMB has engaged with Stormont ministers who agree a carve up does not benefit the company or the wider Northern Ireland economy. This company which has been here for more than 150 years we will fight tooth and nail to protect and maintain jobs for future generations," he added.
Besides supplying Airbus, Spirit's Belfast operation makes parts for Bombardier private jets and carries out work in defence and space. It lost $338m in 2023.
Letters sent this month to employees from Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stephanie Pope and Spirit CEO Pat Shanahan suggest that some of the non-Airbus work in Belfast could go to Boeing by default if no alternatives are found.
Airbus said it would also acquire the production of wing components for A320 and A350 jets in Prestwick in Scotland.
Under the deal, Airbus will be compensated for taking on the loss-making production work by a payment of $439m from Spirit, though this is less than the $559m originally planned because of changes in the scope of the deal.
Jefferies analyst Chloe Lemarie said the new payment may not fully offset a drag of mid-three-digit millions of euros that Airbus expects on its 2025 cashflow from running the plants.
Even so, shares in the European planemaker rose around 2% as the deal lifted uncertainty about a critical part of the supply chain. Delays from Spirit have slowed A350 passenger jet deliveries and contributed to a freighter development delay.
However, both companies said they expected the complex three-way deal to close in the third quarter rather than mid-year as previously indicated.
Airbus will meanwhile provide new interest-free credit lines worth $200m to Spirit, the companies said.
The decision to move ahead with plans to dismantle Spirit and shore up its production lines comes as Boeing boosts production of its 737 MAX cash cow following a series of crises that weighed on output.
Spirit Aero, which produces the fuselage for the MAX, raised doubts last year about its ability to continue as a going concern, receiving financial help from both planemakers.
Airbus CFO Thomas Toepfer told shareholders earlier this month the company expected to complete the agreement with Spirit by the end of April and formally close the deal by June 30.
While Boeing had previously considered whether to buy back its former subsidiary, the decision to move ahead comes as the planemaker boosts production of its strongest-selling 737 MAX jet following a series of crises in 2024 that weighed on output.
Spirit Aero, which produces the fuselage for the MAX, raised doubts last year about its ability to continue as a going concern, receiving financial help from both planemakers.
Wichita, Kansas-based Spirit Aero said in February it has total financial liquidity of $890m but expects to burn $650-700m in free cash during the first half of 2025, without offering an explanation.
Airbus CFO Thomas Toepfer told shareholders earlier this month the company expected to complete the agreement with Spirit by the end of April.
The full deal with Boeing is expected to close by the third quarter of 2025.
