Big Airbus & Boeing Announcement

As we come into truly the festive period, Airbus and Boeing have had Christmas come early with a major announcement beginning with Boeing who have completed a formal acquisition of Spirit Aerosystems in a landmark moment for the American manufacturer. What has been a long time in the making, we'll see Boeing acquire all of Spirits related commercial operations. This includes fuselages for the 737 program and other significant structures of the 767, 777 and 787 Dreamliner. The American Planemakers CEO Kelly Ortberg calls the move a pivotal moment in the history of Boeing, opening the way for future success through the integration of commercial and aftermarket operations across the company's commercial but also defense programs. Boeing with this move can bring its largest supplier of critical spare parts in-house, enabling the business to expand its global maintenance, repair and overhaul services, more commonly referred to as MRO, while lessening the pressure previously placed on suppliers. With these latest changes, the operators in the U.S. plus the Aerospace Innovation Center in Scotland will be integrated into Boeing, resulting in around 15,000 employees becoming part of the broader aerospace company as part of consolidation efforts. Additionally, the manufacturer flagged that it has taken over Spirit Aerosystems operation in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and this facility will become an independent location under the name Short Brothers. Ultimately, Boeing was not alone in announcing a landmark deal with Spirit Aerosystems. Across the pond, its competitor of Airbus also revealed something similar. Airbus confirmed that it had completed a U.S. $439 million takeover of Spirit Aerosystems assets across sites in the United States, the United Kingdom, Morocco, and France. The overview of the sites that Airbus has taken ownership of from Spirit Aerosystems and the specifics surrounding them will be on your screen now. You are more than welcome to take the opportunity to pause the video to get a better understanding of what site will join the Airbus Aerosystems as they are calling it. For Airbus, this crucial move, a long time in the making, will see them gain greater control over the production of fuselage sections, wings, and other critical components alongside that focus on maintaining their aircraft even beyond delivery. Whether it is the A220 up to the A350, these planes are all going to be included and it will bring over 4,000 employees under the Airbus roof, consolidating efforts that will reshape not just how aircraft production is conducted, but like I touched on how they will support the global fleet right around the world. The move initiated by Airbus and Boeing are pretty significant for the future of the aerospace sector, not just in how production is executed, but more specifically in fostering greater harmony across OEMs, supply chains, and such. With such an emphasis in recent times on production processes and the unfortunate many complexities they have, Boeing is bringing Spirit for example back in-house, particularly as they look to continue overhauling the quality approach and day-to-day practices that have been conducted. With this approach, Boeing has greater control over key areas of its commercial airplane product after years of struggles, whereas Airbus is also seeing something very similar as it continues to supply critical parts for the production and development of its own aircraft programs. Both manufacturers see the investment as a means to minimize the overall risk, which has undoubtedly been highlighted over the last 5-6 years, relying so much on suppliers right around the world that lack the control, causing billions in damages to these manufacturers. While there are natural risks in bringing these components back under the one roof, planemakers would go on to feel that the benefits will far outweigh the negatives, and at the end of the day, even if something was to go wrong in-house, it'll be in-house rather than them having to deal with a supplier either on the other side of the world or other side of the country. So, the benefits to far outweigh the negatives, and this is something they're hoping will translate down to airlines who should be one of the biggest beneficiaries seeing more stable output rates and therefore management of their aircraft. Once again, something that probably hasn't been the most present in the last half-decade and certainly highlighted the many issues that were still present in our industry. Very keen to hear your take down below in the comments. Appreciate the support. Take care. I hope you are doing safe and enjoying time off if you're able to get some. I will see you back here tomorrow, same place, same time, for further industry news.