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Politicians and union leaders have warned of dismantling Spirit AeroSystems in Northern Ireland after Boeing bought its former supplier for $4.7 billion, leaving the region’s biggest manufacturer in limbo.
In addition to Boeing’s acquisition of Spirit announced on Monday, Airbus has separately agreed to take over the manufacturing the supplier does on its behalf for its A220 and A350 programs at four plants in the US, France, Morocco and Belfast.
Spirit has six plants in Belfast that make the wings and fuselages, the main body of the aircraft, for Airbus A220 jets.
But the loss-making operation in Northern Ireland also makes fuselages and other parts for Bombardier business jets and components for Rolls-Royce and Honda Aircraft, all of which are being left out of the complex deal and have no immediate buyer.
Spirit said on Monday it would seek to sell these, as well as operations in Scotland and Malaysia that support Airbus programs.
Steve Aiken, Deputy Speaker of Northern Ireland’s Stormont Assembly and a member of the Ulster Unionist Party, feared that integrated operations in Belfast, including research and development, would be sacrificed if operations were broken up or transferred elsewhere.
“That is added value and it will be divided by the division of society,” he warned.
Splitting the business would mean practical problems and leave the 60 percent of workers not involved in Airbus production in limbo, the GMB union said.
“It’s a holistic operation – there’s a lot of interdependence” with some staff employed on both Airbus and other contracts, said Alan Malcolm, a senior GMB union representative, who did not rule out industrial action.
Northern Ireland is a supplier to many of the world’s aerospace and defense programs and the £1.9 billion sector employs more than 10,000 people, including supply chains.
Kevin Craven, chief executive of aerospace and defense trade association ADS, told the Financial Times that the industry would be “very keen to retain capacity” in Belfast.
Spirit bought the historic Belfast business when the Canadian industrial conglomerate put it up for sale in 2019. Before that, it was the home of Short Brothers, who in 1909 claimed to be the world’s first aircraft manufacturer after receiving an order from American aviation pioneers. the wright brothers.
Airbus could even seek to outsource A220 fuselage operations to a third party in the future, according to people familiar with the situation, who warned that a final decision was likely to take months.
Spirit’s production for Bombardier could make it a logical new owner for parts of the business not taken by Airbus and any future A220 fuselage work.
One Northern Ireland business expert said: “Doing a deal with Bombardier would be the obvious answer – but that might require writing a big cheque. Bombardier was not immediately available for comment.
Airbus stated that as a result of the “intended sale of Spirit to Boeing, [it] was acquiring the most critical work packages directly related to Airbus programs’. At this stage, he added, “no operational decisions have been made about how we will manage these work packages”.
Airbus will work with the British government and the Northern Ireland executive to “stabilize and improve” Spirit’s operations, he added.
Conor Murphy, Northern Ireland’s economy minister, said a “responsible owner” of jobs outside Airbus was needed to protect skilled jobs.
“We are committed to working closely with Spirit to help them identify potential buyers to help best support the people in those locations,” said a person close to Boeing, referring to the operations Spirit is seeking to sell to third parties.
Airbus will receive $559 million in compensation from Spirit and pay a symbolic $1 for the assets. If Spirit does not find a third buyer for the Prestwick operations, Airbus would acquire the operations, the plane maker said on Monday.
Airbus said it wants to increase A220 production to 14 per month by 2026. Spirit said in May that it planned to increase capital expenditure and staffing in Belfast this year to meet demand.