Boeing and Airbus have completed the acquisition of the worldwide assets of Spirit Aerosystems. The deal for the facilities of Spirit AeroSystems in Northern Ireland has now been transferred to Boeing and Airbus, and was formally completed on the 8th of December. Part of the Belfast facility that works on making the A220 wings and mid-fuselage for Airbus is to become Airbus Belfast, with the rest of Spirit’s sites in Belfast transferring to Boeing. Boeing said that its Belfast sites will operate as an independent subsidiary branded as Short Brothers, a Boeing Company.
The expansion work previously announced by Spirit Aerosystems to expand the Belfast facilities, where the wings for the Airbus A220 are manufactured, will continue as planned for the expected ramp-up in production. The non-Airbus production facilities in the Belfast area will all transfer to Boeing. Spirit previously had a workforce af around 3,600 people across several sites in Northern Ireland, with the biggest factory being in East Belfast.
