Boeing’s new CEO Kelly Ortberg recently visited Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kansas, where he is gearing up to lead the company and steer it in the right direction. Boeing will soon buy back Spirit AeroSystems, but questions remain about the fate of the company’s defense operations.

Kelly Ortberg visits Spirits AeroSystems

Boeing’s new CEO Kelly Ortberg was invited by Kansas Senator Jerry Moran to visit Spirit AeroSystems’ facilities in Wichita. Ortberg was recently appointed as the plane maker’s top boss and is tasked with ironing out the company’s problems.

Moran met with Ortberg and CEO Steven Mollenkopf and gave them a tour of the Wichita facility and WSU Tech’s National Center for Aviation Training. According to The Wichita Eagle, Moran wanted to emphasize to Ortberg the importance of Wichita to Boeing.

Spirit AeroSystems is expected to be acquired by Boeing soon. This will be one of many tasks and responsibilities that Ortberg must oversee and successfully manage in the coming months and years to rebuild the company’s business, reputation and culture.

Questions about Spirit’s defense work

Boeing’s acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems is a consideration in many ways, as Spirit has diversified its business over the years and can now add other aerospace companies to its customer base, including Boeing’s European competitor Airbus.

Another point of uncertainty is in relation to the company’s defense work for various companies and how the new contract with Boeing might affect the company and the employees involved in those projects. Moran spoke to Ortberg about this and said that Boeing intends to retain all of Spirit’s defense work. The Wichita Eagle quoted him as saying:

“They indicated to me that they want to keep all of the defense work that Spirit does at Boeing. That’s their goal. I asked them: If there are circumstances where companies are unable or unwilling to do that, would you support our efforts to ensure that the workforce stays in Wichita or Kansas? And they have committed to that as well.”

Photo: JHVEPhoto | Shutterstock

Moran also stressed that it is his personal responsibility to retain the 1,500 to 2,000 Spirit employees working on defense contracts in Kansas and that it would be unfortunate if they had to leave the company.

Boeing will soon take over Spirit AeroSystems

Boeing is close to acquiring Spirit AeroSystems in a $4.7 billion all-stock deal. But that’s not all: The aircraft maker will also assume Spirit’s net debt, bringing the value of the entire transaction to $8.3 billion.

Photo: Marco Menezes | Shutterstock

Airbus also awards significant contracts to Spirit, such as the production of aircraft components for the A350 and A220 models, and has also entered into a binding term sheet agreement with Spirit to ensure the continuity of these programs.

Recently, Spirit AeroSystems reported a loss of $455 million in the second quarter of 2024 The net loss for the first half of the year was $1.03 billion, with cash reserves of $206 million as of June 27, compared to a reserve of $824 million as of December 2023.