Airbus has agreed to acquire Spirit AeroSystems’ assets for $1, along with a compensation of $559 million. This acquisition comes after Boeing decided to purchase the bulk of Spirit following the Alaska Airlines incident. In 2018, Airbus bought a 50% stake in Bombardier CSeries for one Canadian dollar, which was later increased to 75% in a $591 million deal.
Spirit AeroSystems built the fuselage of the Alaska Airlines 737 Max that suffered a door plug incident in midair, leading to Boeing initiating buyback negotiations with Spirit. The National Transportation Safety Board reported that Spirit sent the plane to Boeing’s plant with damaged rivets, and the door plug was removed to address the issue but wasn’t properly secured before delivery to Alaska Airlines.
The fallout from this incident has resulted in Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun stepping down and the Justice Department considering potential criminal charges against Boeing, which may be announced soon. As part of this acquisition, Airbus will take over production of key activities related to Airbus, including building A350 fuselage sections, pylons, wings, and mid-fuselage for A220 jets.