Boeing announced Monday a deal to purchase Spirit AeroSystems for $4.7 billion, as the plane manufacturer looks to address and resolve recent safety concerns.
The company will pay $37.25 per share for Spirit AeroSystems, Boeing said in a news release.
“We believe this deal is in the best interest of the flying public, our airline customers, the employees of Spirit and Boeing, our shareholders and the country more broadly,” Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun said in a statement.
“By reintegrating Spirit, we can fully align our commercial production systems, including our Safety and Quality Management Systems, and our workforce to the same priorities, incentives and outcomes – centered on safety and quality,” he continued.
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The manufacturer’s acquisition of Spirit includes substantially all Boeing-related commercial operations, as well as additional commercial, defense and aftermarket operations.
As part of the deal, Boeing and Spirit will work together to ensure the operations supporting Spirit’s customers and programs it acquires will continue, including by working with the Department of Defense and Spirit’s defense customers about defense and security initiatives.
“We are proud of the role Boeing plays in supporting our men and women in uniform and are committed to ensuring continuity for Spirit’s defense programs,” Calhoun said.
The deal, subject to regulatory approvals, breaks up Spirit and sends some of the supplier’s assets to French planemaker Airbus.
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Boeing is attempting to overcome issues that have recently plagued the company, sparked by a mid-air blowout of a door plug on an Alaska Airlines flight traveling from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, on Jan. 5. That flight, which involved Boeing’s 737 MAX 9 jet, was forced to make an emergency landing in Portland shortly after takeoff.
The incident revealed several safety and quality problems with the jets, prompting a substantial slowdown in output at Boeing.
Spirit, which manufactured the door plug, was spun off from Boeing in 2005. Boeing decided to buy back Spirit following the blowout incident as part of an effort to resolve its safety problems and shore up production.
It was also revealed last month that the Justice Department could bring criminal charges against Boeing for violating a settlement related to two fatal crashes.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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