Spirit Aerosystems aims to renegotiate Airbus A220 deal

The company which makes parts for Airbus passenger planes at a factory in Belfast is aiming to renegotiate the terms of its deal with the manufacturer.

Spirit Aerosystems makes the wings for the Airbus A220.

The company’s chief executive, Patrick Shanahan, said he thinks the two firms will come to “a reasonable outcome”.

Spirit has been in Northern Ireland since 2019 when it bought Bombardier’s operations.

The deal ended a long period of uncertainty for about 3,000 workers in Northern Ireland.

In August, the firm reported worse than expected financial results for the second quarter of 2023.

It disclosed $105m (£82m) in losses on Boeing and Airbus aircraft production and forecast a difficult cashflow picture for the rest of the year.

The A220 programme was among the loss-making parts of the business.

At the time, then-chief executive Tom Gentile said Spirit “made a big bet on the A220 programme”.

Boeing deal

Spirit recently reached a deal with Boeing for the prices paid for work on the 787 Dreamliner and the 737.

Mr Shanahan was speaking to financial analysts as Spirit reported its third quarter results.

He said the negotiations with Airbus are very similar to the process with Boeing.

“We’re committed to Airbus, and I think they’re committed to us,” he said.

“But I’m encouraged, based on the Boeing agreement, that we’ll get there with Airbus,” he told the analysts.

Mr Shanahan suggested that because the A220 wings are manufactured using a novel process it had taken time to assess its true cost as production was scaled up.

“The performance that we should be realising out of the manufacturing system just isn’t there, but I think it’s inherently not there,” he said.

“Between us and Airbus, we have to come to some resolution to address that discontinuity.

“I think we’ll be able to get to the place that makes sense for both parties.”